Before the 4 Brothers; Li Tianxia's Tale [Archive]

Orchids_Mantis

07-08-2009, 01:53 AM

Li Tianxia's Tale

Prologue

The voice echoed across the mountains, a faint cry sweeping across fields and through treetops, "Tia-an!"

The giant beast swung down at him with its massive arm, a mighty blow that would shatter the very face of the earth itself -were that where it was aiming. Instead, the arm curved up, seeking to catch its opponent under his chin. He grinned and jumped into the air, flattening out and spinning over the attack, closing his eyes as the refreshing wind from the miss swept across his face. Vaguely, he made out a voice call from the distance, "Tiaan!" He started to look back at the way it came, but suddenly, the massive monster was upon him again; charging and swinging its immense clawed hand at him. He turned back to face the beast, this time jumping toward the monster and swinging down with his weapon, slamming it into the beast's armored hide -seeming to have no effect on the gargantuan. He jumped back from the beast and flipped to avoid another strike, landing on his feet several yards away from the towering monster.

"Tian!" the distant voice called again, "Tianxia!" He had no time to reply to or seek out the caller, for once more the strong beast attacked. The agile man jumped and rolled to the side, easily dodging the blow as the monster's claws raked across the ground, leaving deep gouges trailing behind them. He rushed the beast, swinging his weapon back as the beast began bringing its arm back around from its last attack. He had to go faster, if he didn't hurry, the beast's arm would make it across before he made it in close enough to strike. With a defiant yell he brought his weapon forward. "LI TIANXIA YOU GET HOME THIS MINUTE!"

The beast's face twisted, its flesh deforming and arms pulling away from him; instead they began to press high into the air, spreading out and covering him in shade. His eyes snapped wide as soup bowls at the call, and the young boy came to a skidding stop before the old oak tree outside his village. "I MEAN IT!" his mother called again, "If you don't get home NOW you are going to be in BIG trouble, buster!" Deciding that this was scarier than the monster he was facing, the seven year old boy dropped his stick to the ground, spun on his heel and started running back toward his home.

Born barely more than seven years ago; this small village and the nearby forest were all Li Tianxia knew -except what the nomadic merchants and minstrels that moved between the villages had told him. His father had died shortly before his birth, as he had no siblings and his mother had no immediate family, he was very precious to her -which is why she named him "Tianxia", or "all beneath heaven". He looked off at the horizon as he ran; the sun was already setting, the sky turning a brilliant orange and casting long shadows across the ground -it was later than he had thought it was. He reached the first of the village houses, a few of the other children who had heard his mother's shouts chuckled as they saw him running in. One of the older boys stood up and walked in front of him, bringing him to a stop. "Off playing pretend again, Tianxia?" he snickered, to which he frowned. "Oooh, watch out, Rei," another boy taunted, "He might slash at you with his grand sword!" "Shut up," he muttered. "Heh, what are YOU gonna do about it?" the boy chuckled, "You gonna rush forward and slay me with a mighty blow? You gonna be Li Tianxia, mighty adventurer? How stupid!" Tianxia looked away as the boy continued, "Grow up, kid. You're not gonna be an adventurer; no one in this village is. Heck, someone as pathetic as you is probably not even gonna make it OUT of the village." "Yes I will!" he shot back clenching his fist, "I will SO make it out of this village! And I'll see more of the world than any of you! And I'll be STRONGER than you, too!"

The boy's smile turned mean and he stepped in closer, "That a fact? Well why don't you prove it?" A small crowd of children had appeared by now, surrounding the three boys. "Tianxia! Get home this INSTANT!" his mother called again. Tianxia looked down, "I have to go, my mother's calling me." The other boy grinned, raising his head a bit as he peered down at him, "Heh. That's what I thought." The boy turned to the side, giving a small opening for the younger boy to pass by. As he ran home, Li Tianxia heard some of the others already laughing behind his back. "There you are!" his mother called from ahead, "Where have you been? I've been calling you for fifteen minutes! Your dinner's already cold!" "Sorry, mom," he said as he stepped into their small house. His mother shook her head and sighed as Tianxia washed his hands, "Honestly, why can't you stay in the village and play like the other kids?" He moved to the table and pulled out his chair, "Because I don't want to be like those other kids. I don't want to stay in this village my whole life. I want to go outside and see other places, meet other people, have adventures!" He looked down as he sat, "You probably think it's pretty stupid, huh?" His mom smiled and moved over toward him, hugging him, "Oh, it's not stupid, dear. Most people felt that way at some point in their lives. It's just...the fact is that most of us will never leave this village, even though we all dreamt of doing it. We all just...grew up...realized that our dreams were just that, dreams; and we had to do what we do here instead...someday you'll have to see that as well. But there's no harm in having the dream of leaving." Li Tianxia put his arms around his mom, "Thanks, mom." "But it's not just a dream for me," he thought to himself, "I AM going to leave this village some day..."

The next day his mother woke early and started weaving clothes to sell to the traders. As she sat on her stool, there was a loud whooping sound from the room across her work area. There was a caucaphany of noise as something began fumbling loudly, as though hopping on the wooden flooring of the room; followed by what sounded like a stampede of horses running toward her. She smiled, chuckling to herself as young Li Tianxia bolted from his room and out the front door, "Heh, I guess the minstrels are back in town today." She laughed for a moment, Tianxia was always up early and out the door when the storytellers came -he always wanted to hear every story they had (even if he'd heard them before); be it fables, parables, tales of far-off lands, though his favorite was the heroic epic.

Tianxia hustled down the street to the village square -an area decorated festively for an upcoming holiday. He found the minstrels -a pair he'd seen roughly a dozen times before- still in the midst of unpacking their horse-drawn carriage. One of the old men saw the young boy run up, turning to face him. "Well," the old man said lightly, "If it isn't Tianxia! How've you been, lad?" "Fine, sir!" Tianxia smiled, "I've been waiting to see you guys again!" The minstrel chuckled, "Heh, I can tell. Say, be a sport and help out two old men with some of their luggage, eh?" He motioned to some of the large cases they had in their cart, Tianxia eagerly jumped into the small buggy and began grabbing as many items as he could. The minstrel held up his hand, "Easy there! Don't kill yourself!" "I won't," Tianxia replied with a grin, "I can handle it." Tianxia quickly assisted the minstrels in unpacking their luggage and setting it in a small tent they had set up for themselves. Li Tianxia waited outside their tent as they organized the inside of their small temporary home. They murmered to each other for a bit, then came out; each minstrel carying his instrument, then sat down on a mat they had unfurled in front of their cart.

The first minstrel picked up his instrument and began tuning it, the other looked over at Tianxia -the only person to have arrived by that time. "So young Tianxia," said the minstrel, "Have you heard the story of why Wolves eat rabbits?" Tianxia shook his head, "Oh? How about the tale of why cats chase lizzards?" Again Tianxia shook his head. "Oh-ho," chuckled the minstrel, then let's tell you those first."

The first minstrel began strumming a slow tune on his stringed instrument, the other smiled and leaned back, looking up slightly, as though reading the story from the clouds, "Long ago deep in the woods, before the arrival of the monsters, a rabbit and a wolf met on a dirt field. These two creatures both wanted to use the field to plant food, and they agreed to share in both work, and reward. They talked for a while about which crop to grow, deciding to plant potatoes. They worked hard that season, weeding and watering the plants, until they had a rich field full of the vegetable; but the rabbit had a plan to trick the wolf. When it came time to harvest, the rabbit took the wolf to the field, covered by the flowering potato plants. 'So as we agreed, we'll split the crop in half,' said the rabbit, 'So which do you want, the flowers or the roots?' The wolf had never eaten potatoes, so when looked at the beautiful flowers, he decided to take those. When he got home that night, he found the flowers to be inedible, and so he went hungry.

"The next season, the two met up again, needless to say, the wolf was angry at the rabbit, but the rabbit assured him it was a misunderstanding -after all, the wolf had chosen the flowers for himself, not the rabbit. This season they decided to plant corn; and again they toiled all season long; and again, when it came time to harvest, the rabbit planned a trick. 'Okay, since last time you couldn't eat the flowers,' said the rabbit, 'this time you can have the roots.' The wolf smiled and thanked the rabbit, who took all the corn, leaving the wolf the roots. That evening, the wolf found out he had been tricked again, when he could not eat the roots of the corn. Angrily, the starving wolf went to the home of the rabbit, who had gorged himself on the corn he had tricked out of the wolf. When the rabbit laughed at the wolf about his hunger, the wolf growled and leapt at the rabbit, who ran away in terror; the wolf hungrily tearing after him."

The first minstrel ended his song just as the second finished his story. The first minstrel looked at him, "And this, Tianxia, is why wolves chase rabbits. And why you should always be weary about being tricked, as well as tricking others yourself." Tianxia nodded, the minstrels chuckling; the first putting down his instrument, the second picking up his instrument and strumming the strings lightly. The first minstrel stroked his long white beard as he began the next tale,

"Have you ever seen a cat stranded in a tree? Have you ever wondered why it is that a cat is able to climb up tall steep objects and yet unable to figure out how to get back down? You see; a long time ago, cats were not quite the same as they are today. They were just as cunning, just as prideful. Their eyes were as keen and ears just as sensitive, and they were still masters of the stalk and the pounce. But cats were completely restricted to walking along the ground; none knew how to climb. Now lizzards were the same as they are now, small, agile, and able to climb with great speed both up and down steep surfaces. It so happened that one day long ago, a hungry cat sat beneath a tree, gazing at a bird's nest, wishing it could climb the tree to reach the nest and devour the birds resting in the tall branches. As the cat watched the nest, the birds flew off; so dejected and starving, the cat turned away. It was then that the cat noticed movement at the base of the tree -it was a small green lizzard sneaking up on an insect.

"The hungry feline pounced, taking the lizzard by surprise and forcing it to the ground, pinned beneath one of its paws. The cat glared at the lizzard as he prepared to devour the reptile; but then paused, an idea coming to him. 'Show me how to climb as you can,' said the feline, 'and I shall spare your life.' The lizzard, knowing that it was his only choice if he wanted to live, consented. The lizzard spent the day showing the cat how to use its sharp claws to climb a nearby tree, then guided it up into the branches of the tree -the highest tree in the forest. 'There,' said the lizzard, 'You can see the whole forest from up here. You will have no problem spotting food from this branch.' The cat laughed as it stalked forward, 'No, I won't. In fact it seems I have just found some.' The cat pounced at the lizzard, but the reptile ran to the side, running underneath the branch on which the cat stood. The cat turned, reaching over the side, only to lose its balance and claw desperately at the branch to get back to the top. 'Foolish cat!' the lizzard called, 'To decide after the lesson was only half finished to try to rescind on your promise and devour me! Now I shall leave you here, in this tree; able only to climb further up its branches since you never made me show you how to climb back down!' With that, the lizzard dashed down the trunk of the tree, leaving the hungry cat in its tall branches. To this day, cats chase lizzards, still seeking the knowledge of how to climb back down."

Tianxia laughed at the end of the minstrels' tale; his merriment cut short by a taunting voice from behind, "Well well; if it isn't little Tianxia...out playing with the old men again ya little runt?" Tianxia turned around seeing an older boy walking up to him, "Rei....just leave me alone." One of the minstrels sat forward, reaching out with his instrument, "Hey there; you leave that boy alone! He's much younjger than you!" "Shut up, old man!" Rei shouted back. The red-haired boy tilted his head up, giving a sneering smile, "Listening to stories of things you'll never be able to do eh, Tianxia?" Tianxia got to his feet, standing up straight and curling his hands into fists, "Shut up, Rei! I mean it!" The boy smiled again, then reached forward quickly, landing a fist against the side of Tianxia's face. Tianxia fell backward to the ground, dazed but only slightly hurt (though for a seven year old that's still a lot). "Hmph," Rei scoffed, "Acting all big and tough just to go down like that...you're a wuss, Tianxia." With that the older boy turned and walked away. The minstrels uickly came to Tianxia's side, checking to make sure he wasn't too badly hurt, "Are you alright, sonny?" asked one. Tianxia nodded, rubbing his cheek. "You know, Tianxia," said the other, "You can't just let him keep doing that. Being smaller is no reason to allow people to do bad things to you; just as being bigger is no reason to to bad things to others." "I know," Tianxia nodded, "But I don't know how to stop him." "You have to find a way, Tianxia," the first counciled him, "You have to learn to stand up to him; or you'll never be an adventurer like you dream of becoming." The young boy nodded, his eyes narrowing as he watched Rei walk down the street.

Orchids_Mantis

07-16-2009, 09:46 PM

Chapter 1: Changing the Flow...

He didn't know where he was, or how he got there; all he knew was that the area was very odd, and a strange sensation was creeping up his spine. The ground was completely flat, emphasis on FLAT. There was nothing around in terms of a landmark in any direction; not even plants as far as he could see. Sight...that was the other strange part. The field, or whatever this was, had a mist covering its base, and a thin fog floating in the air, yet somehow, it did not seem to effect how far you could see. And the light, it seemed to come from the entire sky, not simply a sun or the stars as he was accustomed to seeing. While bright, the light was not overbearing, it was easy to look into the air and there was no pain for the eyes. The light turned the sky a brilliant white, while the ground beneath the mist reflected a dazzling yellowish gold. He turned, looking this way and that, a new direcion every half second, trying to get a bearing, figure out where he was, how he got there, how he could leave.

Suddenly she appeared before him; a mysterious girl bathed in mist and light so he could not see her face. Taken off guard, Tianxia drew his sword ("Sword?" When did I get a sword?") and held it in front of him in a familiar guard position ("Wait...how do I know how to hold this thing?") She watched him silently as he regarded her, holding his weapon in front of himself. After a minute passed, she spoke, "I have been waiting for you, Li Tianxia." The man took a step back as she continued, "You will soon come to a crossroads; a decision you will make that will determine both your fate, and the fate of many others." He lowered his blade, "Who are you? How do you know me?" The light around her began to change, her form gradually disappearing as a dark circle began approaching from behind her -a cold shiver made its way up his spine. "Two years have already passed," though her body was no longer visible, her voice was still clear. The light of the area was suddenly devoured , plunging him into a deep darkness, the sound of a large beast's charging footsteps -like a stampede of oxen- now audible. He raised his sword and began searching through the darkness, trying to find where the monster was coming from. The girl's voice came again, now echoing in the dark tunnel, "Three yet remain. Choose well, Tianxia; for you will not be able to choose again." Finally, he saw it -or part of it: Horns wrapped in a dim-glowing dark fire, long white teeth barely visible as they glistened in its powerful jaws, the occasional claw also making its way into view. He froze at the sight of the monster's mere outline. Should he run? Was he fast enough to outrun it? He had a sword -should he try to fight it? What about the girl, he could call her for help... The large beast made his decision for him, it leapt forward at the confused young man. Having no other option available, Tianxia gave a great yell and he swung his large sword at the beast. The blade impacted, and a brilliant light exploded from the point where blade and beast touched. As the light's brilliance reached an impossibly new level, Li Tianxia woke up, opening his eyes.

"Whoa," he said, shaking his head as his eyes focused, "that was weird." He brushed some of his blue hair out of his eyes and looked around. He was sitting under a tree, about ten meters off of the road, next to him was a small bundle of papers tied together -messages for the town he was traveling to. "That's right," he muttered, mind clearing, "I was...taking a break as I went to the next village...I must have fallen asleep." He reached over and grabbed the papers -happy that no one had made off with them while he slept. "Still, it's strange," he said softly, "I usually don't get fatigued enough this early in the day to need a break...and never enough to fall asleep." His eyes opened wide as a thought came to him, "Asleep...how long was I asleep!?" He looked up at the sun, and then down at the shadows; but thankfully, it seemed he'd only been out for a few minutes. Wasting no more time, Tianxia secured the letters against his waist, and began jogging down the dirt path to the village waiting for the correspondence he carried.

It was not yet sunset when he arrived at the old village, shadows still creeping out to the side and sky just readying to begin turning dark. Nothing seemed to have changed in the village since the last time he'd visited. "Not that anythign in this place ever does," he murmered as he looked around his once-home-town. As he walked down the street toward the village elder's house, thoughts of the dream swam in his mind. "Two years have passed," he muttered quietly, "And three yet remain...what the heck was that about?" He looked around, shaking his head in slight aggravation at the number of familiar faces he saw, "Why do they all stay here?" "Perhaps because they don't know where else to go," a voice answered from behind him. Tianxia turned, coming eye to eye with the town smith -someone he'd known since childhood. The smith smiled a bit, "It's been a while, Tianxia...almost eight months now, right?" He thought back a moment, "Something like that, yeah. How are you?" "Oh I'm fine," the burly man chuckled, "As well as can be expected." Tianxia's look grew quizzical, "What did you mean by that answer of yours earlier...that they don't know where else to go?" The smith's smile faded a bit, "Not everyone is as head-strong as you are, Tianxia; and not many from this village are as adventurous. Many are satisfied with their lives here, they find enough that keeps them happy and they feel that's all they need. Others may have adventurous ambitions and goals, but they can't figure out where to start trying to obtain them. They feel like water in a river, being pulled to a predetermined end point. Eventually they just stop trying to resist and go along with the rest of the water." Tianxia looked down, nodding at the smith's explanation.

A loud call came from the smith's shop, the smith shook his head, "That would be my apprentice." A new noise came from the shop: a loud series of crashing sounds and clanging metal. The smith sighed, "And that would be him falling down and scattering half my iron, coal and copper across the floor again." Tianxia chuckled a bit as the smith gave an annoyed look, "I'll go see what exactly the boy's done now. Nice seeing you again, Tianxia." "Same here, sir," Tianxia waved. The smith walked back over to his shop and gave a loud yell, "Boy, what have you done!? I swear an apprentice like you will be the death of me! And if you don't stop tripping and crashing across my shop so often I swear that I WILL be the death of you!" The blue haired man laughed at the smith's words, turning around and looking for a place to spend the night.

The following day he woke early, his dream for some reason still wieghing heavilly on his mind. As no one was offering a job for the courier, he simply walked a short ways from the village, sitting down on the shore of a river. He watched the water for a short time as it flowed past him, continuing along its seemingly unending journey. "People view their lives as being predetermined," he said quietly, tossing a stone in the water. The water splashed, shifting slightly out, then back as the river's motion pulled it back. "Like the water of a river; they flow from a given start to a predetermined end...Even myself..I mean; I got out of the village..but what is there for me now beyond being a simple courier?" He looked around, grabbed a larger rock, and threw it in. There was a larger splash, the water shifted more, but was again pulled back by the river's flow. "I wonder what would be needed to change that destined end...how big a stone would you need to change the flow of a river itself?" Grass and leaves crunched lightly behind him as someone walked up. Tianxia turned to see another familiar village face. "Ah, so you're here again," the young man smiled, "I should have known...it is that day, after all." "Hey, Aaron," Tianxia replied. He furrowed his eyebrows, "Wait...what day is it?" The brown-haired man Tianxia had known since childhood gave a sarcastic look, "Oh come on, you know what day it is: this is the third time you've shown up on this day. You sit by the river all day thinking about her, then you go back to your tent, sleep it off and the next day you're gone." Tianxia looked down and to the side, "Oh...so that was today...was it really two years ago today?" His thoughts drifted back to that day; the final day he stayed in the village as a resident.

"Look, I'm sick of it!" the light blue-haired girl yelled at him, "I'm tired of not being important to you!" "That's not fair! You are important to me, Lin!" Tianxia shot back. She narrowed her eyes, "Tianxia, the town DOG that you feed every morning is important to you; the BIRD you found wounded and kept until it was well was important to you!" "So what? What's wrong with that?" "Nothing's wrong with that, Tianxia," she said in a tired tone, "But it's not enough for me to just be important to you; I can't be with you if you have other things being as important or MORE important than I am!" Tianxia gave a confused expression, "So what you're saying is that feeding a dog makes the dog as important to me as you are?" Lin sneered, "No!" "Then what are you talking about?" Tianxia asked loudly. She gave him a look of stating the obvious, "You! I'm talking about you! You still want to leave the village!" Tian spread his hands, "Well yeah." "See? Why are you not content to stay with me!?" she yelled, pointing at herself. "I want to stay with you!" Tianxia replied, "But come on; I'm eighteen! I don't want to stay here and be an old man of the village yet! I want to go out and see other places; other people!" He straightened, "And I asked if you'd come with me, but YOU said you didn't want to!" "And despite the fact that I want to stay here, you said that you would go anyways!" she shot back angrily. Tianxia took a step back as she took a deep breath, brushing the long hair out of her face, "Look, it comes down to this: say you want to be with me -that you're willing to stay here with me...or we're done." Tianxia was speechless at Lin's remark -they'd been together for almost two years, hearing her say that was like a hammerblow; but at the same time, he knew that a part of him couldn't tell her what she wanted to hear. She nodded at his silence, "See? I'm not that important to you." She turned, wiping at her eyes. Tianxia held out a hand, "But..Lin.." "I know, Tianxia," she said, not coming any nearer, "I'm important to you...but I'm not the most important...and I just can't have that any more." With that she turned and walked away, leaving him alone next to the river. He stood at the river all day; but he could not figure out what he should do.

The next day, Tianxia took a simple bag, filled it with a few clothes, a tent and a staff, and struck out across the road. He wandered to different villages, as he wandered he brought with him letters from one village to another, earning a modest living. But for the last two years, he had returned to the river, sitting and thinking about her and his choice; sometimes wondering what things would be like if he had been willing to stay.

"You know," Aaron said from next to him, jerking him out of his thoughts, "She didn't even want you to give up your dream." Tianxia looked over at him, "Huh?" "Lin...she didn't want you to stay in the village...she just wanted you to say you were willing to stay if she asked you to." He nodded, "Yeah...I know. I kind of figured that out a while ago." He looked over at the river, "But that's not why I am here today, in all honesty. I wasn't thinking about her -I wasn't even aware what day it was until you showed up." "Oh really?" His friend asked skepticly, "Heh, sorry I don't believe you." Tianxia laughed, "Whether you believe me or not, that's how it is." He threw another stone in the water. Aaron grinned triumphantly, "So what were you thinking of, then?" "I was just wondering what you'd need to make a river flow in another direction." Aaron gave him a strange look, "What?" "How big a force would you need to make a river flow in another direction?" he repeated. Aaron thought for a moment, "Well mountains seem to do well at that; rivers tend to flow around their base." "No no no," Tianxia answered, "If the river is already there, How big a force would you need to make it flow another way -to another end point?" "Why would you want to do that? It's much easier to just dam it up if you don't like it," he replied. "Tianxia laughed again, "Forget it, Aaron...it was just a passing muse." He leaned back, stretching, "Aah...come on; let's head back to the village...I need to see if there's any work I can do today." Tianxia began walking away, leaving Aaron standing flabbergasted at the river's edge, "He's...serious. He wasn't thinking about Lin at all!" Aaron smiled, laughing to himself, "About dang time...Lin was over him more than a year ago."

Orchids_Mantis

07-20-2009, 03:13 AM

Chapter 1: Changing the Flow...

Back at the village, Tianxia was disappointed to see it was too late in the day to even bother looking for work; however, he did hear that the following morning there would be some minstrels who would be stopping by for a few days. Smiling to himself after hearing this news, he walked down the street a ways; halting in front of an old house, one with an old woman sitting in the front room by the window as she read a book. The woman seemed to sense him watching, she looked up, her eyes growing big, as she stood up, "Tianxia?" The blue-haired man smiled, nodding, "Hello, mother. Sorry it's been so long between visits." The old woman came to the door of her house as Tianxia walked up to it and gave her a brief hug.

Tianxia spent much of that evening talking to his mother; he told her of different villages he'd been to, different animals he'd seen. He spoke of the ocean, describing it to her in great detail -she'd never seen it herself- and told her about the enormous ships that used wind to move across them, carrying dozens of people (while he'd never been on one, he had seen people getting on and off of a few). He showed her his staff and the many knicks and bumps in it from his infrequent encounters with Slime and Mushroom -which didn't go over quite as well with his mother as the story about ships, because she nearly became sick of worry when he told her. His mother made up the guest bedroom -which used to be his regular bedroom- and he spent the night there at his mother's insistance, rather than in his tent.

The next morning he woke early again, surprised to find his mother awake. "Off to see the minstrels?" she smiled, "You always loved their stories." "Actually I was going to see about finding some work," he answered. Tianxia walked over to her, as he approached, she handed him a small item. "What's this?" Tianxia asked as he took it from her. "You left it here last time you visited," she answered. Tianxia took the item out of its holder, finding it to be a book. He opened it, but all the pages were blank. "You got this journal for yourself just before you left," she said with a smile, "It must be the tenth one you've ever had...but you didn't even begin it." Tianxia smiled, "Yeah...I never could get myself to write in them every day." He started to give it back to her, but she held up her hand, "No; take it." He laughed lightly, "I couldn't write a journal every day before, I certainly can't now." "Not every day," his mother smiled, "Just write down stories from the places you go, of what you see. All that you told me about last night was so amazing to listen to; I'm sure others will think so as well." She paused for a moment, "It may be easy to recall things now; but think about a year or two from now...you'll have been so many places, seen so many things that you'll start mixing them all up." "That would make a good story too," Tianxia grinned. "Undoubtedly that is how some of these stories and legends we have get started," his mother laughed, nodding at her son's comment. Tianxia gave a slight nod, placing the book in his bag, "Alright. I'll write down the interesting things I see. Then when I come back I can tell them to you and the village kids." She smiled and he gave her a hug, stepping out the door. "Be careful, Tianxia!" his mother called from the doorway. "I will," he grinned with a wave, "Don't worry!"

He turned around and began walking away, grinning as he thought about the journal in his bag, wondering if he'd really actually manage to keep recording things in it now. His thoughts turned to what lay ahead, the prospect of finding work, and the chance of listening to the minstrels if he did not. His smile widened as he began to hope more and more that no one was offering work at this early hour, so he could at least listen to a few stories from the minstrels. He rounded a corner and his smile faded, standing impatiently in front of the minstrels was a man holding a large envelope with a waxen seal. The man looked over at seeing Tianxia come around the from behind a row of houses, his expression turning from anxiety to relief. "Oh thank Teva," the man said, "I was starting to fear you were taking another day off!" Tianxia looked down in confusion, "Hm? What do you mean?" "I waited here almost all day yesterday, hoping you would arrive asking for work," the man answered, "But you never showed up! I have some letters that urgently need to get to the next town east of here!" (Small villages such as theirs lacked names, no one thought them important enough to give them one; so they were just referred to by their location related to other towns).

Tianxia took a better look at the man, he was well dressed -but not in any fabric available from this community, a bit on the portly side, and had a very fine haircut. "Must be one of the traveling merchants," Tianxia though grimly, "Buying here for scrap and selling abroad for incredible profit...little better than a brigand." He kept his thoughts to himself as he spoke to the merchant, "Clearly, sir, you are no resident here; your clothes are much too fine. You must be a merchant who travelled here from other parts. Being a merchant, you must take your goods with you, and I can't imagine a man of your clear status carrying it all on his back, so you must have come by horse and buggy. Why is it, then, that you would require my meager services, rather than taking your correspondence to the next town yourself by horse?" Tianxia bit his tongue lightly as he finished speaking with a smile. He hated talking in such a manner, but that was how one spoke to a wealthy merchant when talking about business -appear as observant and unimportant as possible, flatter as much as you can. The merchant shook his head, "You are somewhat gifted in flattery, son, but I have no time for such right now. It is true my horse would beat you to the next town -were she able. I'm afraid she has taken ill, which is why I need you to take my letter to the veteranarian in the next town -there is no veteranarian in this village and I am afraid without one, I will lose my horse. I was overjoyed to learn of my fortune that the day she fell sick a courier arrived; but you never appeared yesterday, much to my lament! My situation is urgent and my poor horse is in terrible pain! Please take my letter quickly to the next town!" Tianxia nodded, while he did not like the idea of helping the merchant, helping the horse he was willing to do. He took the envelope and hurried over to a stand to buy a few supplies for the fifteen mile journey; then began jogging down the path to the next village.

It was midday before he made it to the town -a very fast pace for him, considering he never stopped or slowed to a walk to rest. He stumbled into the veteranarian's office with the letter, handing it to the only person there. The person thanked him, paid him with three dozen copper (quite good money for only one letter), and began hurreidly packing his things in a bag. Once finished, the animal doctor saddled a horse, lashed his bag to the horse's hind quarters, and sped off toward the other town. Still tired, Tianxia went to a nearby cafe for some water; where he rested for a good two hours. As he emerged from the cafe, he went to the square to check for work; but found none. After waiting for another hour, he finally decided to just head back to the other village. He stood from the shaded stone he was sitting on and stretched his arms, looking up at the sun. "Hm," he said silently to himself, "About five hours of light left...that should be enough time to get back without hurrying."

With that, he struck out down the brown dirt path made by the stomping of feet on the grassy hills that this area abounded with -it was a good three miles North or West of this village before you came to the forest, South and East was just more grassy hills. He was about two miles from town, an area where the trees started growing but the forest itself had not spread, rounding the top of a small hill, when he heard a loud commotion. He crept forward silently, peaking over the top of the hill, and saw two knife-wielding men cornering a woman against a tree. The first man, smaller and a bit on the scrawny side, stayed back, waiting to catch her if she ran away, while the second, much larger in height and muscle, stepped closer to the woman. "Let me go!" the woman demanded, "I gave you my money and jewelry, I dind't put up a fight, now let me go!" "Shut up, wench!" one man shouted as he backhanded her across the face. The woman turned with the blow, but stayed upright, looking back at him in anger. "Hm, tough girl, eh?" the man put one hand around the woman's neck, squeezing lightly, and grinned as he played with his knife, the woman clutching at her throat, "I know those type...I know how to make them not be so tough, too." Tianxia grit his teeth, "I should do something," he thought, "but what? I can run fast, I'm only two miles from the village, in eight minutes I'll be able to....aw who am I kidding? In three minutes this will be over, there is no getting help. That leaves me...but...but I'm just one man armed with a staff -which I don't even use too well- against two knife-wielding thieves; I stand no chance...but I can't just let this go on."

As though feeling Tianxia's gaze, the smaller thief looked up at the hilltop. His eyes narrowed, "Hey. We have a guest." The large man looked over, keeping his hand on the girl's throat, the girl gurgling slightly. His face lifted, and grin spread at seeing the courier; Tianxia's breath caught in his throat when he saw the second man's face. "Well well," the man said, dropping the woman to the ground, "Little Li Tianxia....I haven't seen you in ages." He looked down at the woman, who was rasping for breath, hand still against her throat as she coughed, and placed his foot on her back, forcing her down farther into the ground. He grinned as he looked back up, "Why are you hiding up there? Come down here and play, little boy." Tianxia stood, walking forward -though not sure why, "Gotten tired of picking on kids and moved on to robbing women on the road, have you, Rei?" "More than that, my old friend; much, much more than that," he chuckled, motioning with his blade. Tianxia followed the motion, spying a body sprawled under the tree as well, white shirt torn and stained with red; Tianxia looked back at him, eyes narrowing, "Ah...and you're proud of this accomplishment?" "Not particularly," Rei shrugged, giving an evil grin, "But you know the saying, 'you're only proud of an accomplishment when it's your first time doing it.'"

Orchids_Mantis

07-22-2009, 01:32 AM

Chapter 1: Changing the Flow...

Rei looked at the courier, seeing the staff he held in his hands, "What were you planning to do with that?" he laughed, "Sneak up on us and smack us in the back of the head?" Tianxia remained silent, "Heh, that thing looks like it wouldn't even crack rice paper." Tianxia kept quiet, Rei frowned, "Done talking are you? Hmph, you're no fun any more, Tianxia." He motioned over at his partner, "I got the last one so it's your turn. Carve him up good -but try to have a little fun making him scream before killing him." The smaller man grinned, and ran up to Tianxia hunched over, tongue sticking out in excitement. The man laughed as he watched Tianxia, "You scared? Scared boy? You should be. You'll be my eighth one this month!" The briggand began passing his knive from one hand to the other -an unimpressing attempt at displaynig prowess with a knife.

Tianxia raised an eyebrow as he watched, not sure whether he should be amused or saddened by this. He waited until the briggand brought his hands together, passing the knive from his left hand to his right, and brought his staff up the center, knocking the knife into the air. The move astonished the thief and he reached up to grab for the blade, but Tianxia acted faster, bringing his staff around and hitting it again, sending it flying into the deep grass off the path. "No!" the thief shouted, "That was my favorite knife you jerk! I'll get y.." His sentence was left unfinished as Tianxia brought his staff down on the thieve's head, knocking him out. "Eighth one this month?" Tianxia asked with a confused face, "Who else did he kill? People that were sleeping?"

Tianxia looked back at Rei, feeling a bit more sure of himself, "Maybe I stand a chance after all," he thought, "if Rei is only as good as that guy, this will be easy." But as he watched, he knew he would not be so fortunate. Rei looked at the other man with something along the lines of disdain, "Bumbling pest...he could never do anything right." Rei looked back at him, "So you still fancy yourself a hero, eh?" he took his foot off thr girl, stepping forward, "Well, hero; I'll give you the one thing every hero needs: a heroic demise!" With a burst of great speed, Rei dashed forward, slicing with his blade. Tianxia tried to block with his staff, but Rei reversed his step and cut back across, slashing him in the upper left arm. Tianxia yelled as the metal slid against him, parting his skin and allowing blood to flow out. Rei spun around as Tianxia recoiled slashing at his right upper leg, dropping him to one knee; then brought his blade up, making a shallow strike at his stomach, and cutting across the right side of his face.

Tianxia fell over, planting his staff in the ground for support as he continued to bleed. How could he have been so stupid? He should have known better than to try to face Rei; it was obvious just by looking at the larger man that he didn't stand a chance. Why had he stayed? Why didn't he run when he had the chance? He shook his head slightly -all he was able to do, "Because...I couldn't just leave someone who needed help," he answered in his mind. Tianxia looked up, wincing in pain as the thief stood before him, "You haven't changed a bit," he chuckled, "You're still pathetic." Tianxia started trying to get up, pulling harder on his staff with his uninjured arm; only to fall to the ground as Rei kicked it out from under him; placing his foot on the side of his face and putting wieght on it to force his head into the ground. "That's it, Tianxia. You see? That's where you've always belonged: in the dirt with the rest of the vermin. Your little attitude about being a great adventurer? Your dream? It was rubbish. A piece of filth like you could never attain that; yet some lowly garbage like YOU dares to act as though they are higher and more valuable than ME? Feh!" He took his foot off of Tianxia's face, reaching down and picking him up by his blue hair, holding Tianxia at eye level with himself, "You truely are worthless, you know that?" He made a tossing motion, Tianxia stumbled backwards, back striking the tree and he sagged against it. "Now that you understand what you are and where you belong," Rei said with a dark look, "You can die." Rei lunged forward, and buried his dagger up to the hilt into Tianxia's upper left chest -where his heart should be; several inches of the blade passing through him and penetrating the tree behind him, leaving him pinned to the tree. Blood filled his mouth and he coughed loudly, gasping for air and choking as he breathed in more blood while he half-stood, pinned to the tree, the dagger painfully supporting his weight. His vision became cloudy; Rei stood watching him from a few feet away with a satisfied grin on his face. His head became heavy, too heavy to support, so he let it fall limp; the pain in his chest where the dagger sat....well it wasn't lessening...it just seemed to grow distant...as his vision turned dark the last thing he heard was Rei's sinister laughter.

He leaned back, looking up at a few clouds that seemed to move playfully through the blue sky. He closed his eyes and breathed a deep content breath, inhaling the scent of tree blossoms and grass just after a summer rain as he listened to the sound of the water running along the side of the boat and the rocks along the bank. "You gonna help me row back there?" the voice called from ahead. His eyes snapped open and he sat up, seeing the brown haired man in front of the canoe looking back at him. Remembering the oar in his hands, he dipped it in the water and started to paddle, keeping the back of the boat in line with the front, "Oh, uh, right. sorry about that, Aaron." He grinned a bit, "I was just.." "Enjoying the view, I know," Aaron smiled back. Tianxia gazed out at all the trees and flowers along the bank of the river, and the walls of a sheer cliff on the other; they rowed in silence for a few moments before Aaron shook his head, "That was a pretty foolish choice you made, Tianxia." Tianxia looked over at him again, slightly confused; then he remembered, "Oh...Rei...yeah that was kinda dumb...but what else could I do? Someone needed help." Aaron looked ahead, "This path isn't going to be easy, Tianxia. It's got a lot of rough water." Tianxia furrowed his eyebrows, "Huh? What do you mean?" "I mean the path you chose," Aaron said, pointing backwards, "The other path would have been a lot easier." Tianxia looked back; barely making out where the cliff jutted into the river, separating it into two directions. Ahead of him, Aaron continued shaking his head, "Why you didn't take the simple and easy way I'll never know." "Hey, if you had told me to go the other way," Tianxia started, then froze, "Wait a minute...Aaron...I don't...remember choosing a path...for that matter I don't recall getting in this boat." He thought for another moment, his friend just sighing in the boat ahead of him, "...Aaron?"

The sound of the water changed, instead of the soothing trickle there was now a loud rushing sound; Tianxia looked ahead, seeing white water crashing and rushing about large rocks and short drop-offs. "Aaron?" he called, "Maybe we should go closer to shore." "The other way would have been so much easier," Aaron continued, "All you had to do was not paddle and you would have gone the other way." The boat rocked as it bumped off of large rocks, Tianxia yelled as the boat fell over a short set of falls, splashing down hard in the cold water, rushing past them even faster now. Tianxia's head jerked forward as he boat kept striking rocks, water splashed over the side and started filling the boat. The boat struck another rock, a wave of water splashed up and over the side, filling Tianxia's mouth. He coughed and souttered as the canoe continued through the rapids. "Aaron!" he called over the loud water, "This looks like it's gonna be too much! Let's anchor along the shore and stop for a bit huh?" Aaron looked back at Tianxia, whose face was one of great confusiion, "There is no stopping, Tianxia! This is the path you've chosen; now it's time to see where it leads!"

The water's sound intensified, becoming a great roar. Tianxia looked ahead, his eyes widening as he saw the white water disappearing over the top of a large waterfall. He looked back at Aaron, or rather where he should have been; instead, the boat was empty. He frantically glanced around, spying Aaron standing on the shore ten meters away. His friend shook his head again, speaking softly, everything around him quiet -as though he were in an underground tomb, "Two years have passed already; and three still remain." Tianxia grew more confused as his friend continued to speak, "I hope you were certain about this path, Tianxia; because I sincerely doubt you were ready for it." The roar of the mighty falls suddenly returned, Tianxia looked forward, sucking in his breath as he saw the edge of the falls right before him, the water crashing to the base dozens of meters below him. The water gently pushed the bow of the boat over the edge; Tianxia leaned back, paddling backwards furiously as he tried to stop it from nosing over. The boat continued to move forward, and despite the breathless man's efforts, the tip of the canoe pointed down as the back reached the fall's edge. The canoe went over, wind rushed against him, water spraying into his face. Tianxia found his voice, giving a terrified yell as the canoe plummeted, ground quickly speeding towards him; the pool of water at the base of the falls growing larger and larger. He watched as the tip of the canoe pierced the water, in a flash the dark wall of liquid surged up the canoe's body, and impacted Tianxia; plunging him into cold darkness.

Orchids_Mantis

07-22-2009, 01:51 AM

Chapter 2: Lighting of the New Path

Voices...he heard voices in the darkness. They were muffled, echoing in the distance; but they were definitely there. He tried to listen, but found it incredibly hard to concentrate. He wanted to move toward the voices, but his body wouldn't listen...it just sat there in the darkness as the voices grew faint again. As the voices left, he was overcome by a sudden wave of fatigue, and slipped back into a state where no voice or action mattered.

He came to again -somewhat- some time later; again hearing voices in darkness. This time he could make out that there were several of them, and they seemed to be talking to each other. He listened in again, rewarded for his effort by a mind-splitting headache. He ignored the pain, focusing on the voices that he heard. Finaly, he was able to discern their comments. "...be some kind of great healer! So why is he still not healed!?" One of the voices -quite distressed- shouted. "I think you don't understand the extent of his injury," another voice replied, "I healed his wounds long ago, it is his body and mind that requires rest after his encounter; even with my knowledge there is nothing I can do for that." There was silence for a moment before that voice continued, "If I am right, though, he should awaken soon." "There's nothing you can do to speed up the process?" yet another voice implored. "Look," the second responded -more than slightly annoyed at being second-guessed so often, "All I can do at this point is use more smelling salts...will that make you happy?" There was no reply. A moment later, an incredibly foul odor masde its presence known.

He crinkled his nose and started to gag at the horrid odor, opening his eyes and turning away as he coughed loudly -falling out of the bed and onto the floor as he did so. He was slightly stunned as he slammed into the hard surface, when he ragained the ability to focus, he found himself looking up at his mother, Aaron, and some girl dressed in a blue robe. "Tianxia!" his mother and Aaron shouted, "You're awake!" His mother quickly swept forward and gave him a tight hug, "Oh, I'm so glad you're safe!" Tianxia coughed a few more times, the smell of the salts still in his nose. "safe?" he repeated in a daze. The memories of his fight came flooding back to him. He recalled Rei's blade sliding across his arm, leg and face; and shuddered as the picture of the dagger's length disappearing into his chest came to mind. He looked down -finding himself without a shirt -though thankfully still wearing his pants. He looked at his arm and chest, finding only soft, barely visible scars. He looked around at the people in the room, "But...how..." he stammered, "When I was...I thought..." He looked over at his mother, then his friend, a very confused look on his face, "What happened?"

Aaron helped him to his feet and Tianxia sat down on the bed. His eyes widened as he saw a man laying in the bed next to his -it was the same man that had been lying under the tree when he'd faced Rei. "Wait a minute!" he shouted, pointing at the man, "That man was dead! What the heck is going on?!" "Rei has...taken a liking to prolonged deaths, it seems," Aaron answered. Tianxia looked over at him, "What?" "Rei has been murdering people along the road for a whlie now," Aaron stated, "When we first found his victims, they were always quickly killed...but it seems since no one ever knew who it was that killed them, he adopted the habit of drawing the death out; so that people had time to be found and say who attacked them before they died." Aaron made a fist, his face turning stone, "He kills for the sake of fame and fear; giving people torturous deaths to spread his name...the blaggard." "You though," the girl in blue chimed in, "It seems he had a particular grudge against you. Your injuries were meant to kill you immediately. You're a very lucky person...not many could have survived being stabbed in the chest like that." Tianxia shook his head, "It didn't feel 'lucky' at the time." The girl raised her eyebrows, "I'm sure it hurt; but a normal person would have died from being struck there -the dagger would have gone through their heart." She paused, Tianxia looking up at her, "You though...you're one of very few people who has their heart not in the left side of the chest cavity; but in the right. Because Rei didn't know this, he failed to get in a killing strike when he attacked you."

Aaron's eyes widened a bit and he looked over at Tianxia. He looked away, his right hand touching the scar on his chest, feeling the vibrations of his heatrbeat coming from the other side. She was right, of course; he had known for a long time of that particular abnormality, but had decided to keep it to himself -he was different enough as a kid. A thought occured to him, and he looked up again, "Wait...there was a girl there as well. Is she.." "She's fine," the girl in blue smiled, "Rei didn't get a chance to attack her; he was driven off shortly after he attacked you." Tianxia nodded, "So I'm guessing you happened upon us, then." She shook her head, "No; not me. Be it by fate or random fortune, a friend of mine, an adventurer and swordsman, was wandering by when he smelled blood in the wind. Initially he thought that there was a monster attacking a merchant on the roadway -as often happens- and went to investigate; he found it instead to be Rei attacking you. He ran in shortly after you were impaled against the tree and attacked Rei. Rei, though, managed to escape -not without injury, however." Tianxia shook his head, "So how did I..?" The girl held up a hand to cut him off, "Allow me to finish, please. My friend, saw the extent of your wounds, as well as the dagger through what should have been your heart; and assumed you were dead. It was at this time that the man lying there moved slightly. Upon seeing the girl was alright and the man alive, he brought the man here by rider; asking the girl to wait for him there -as his rider was difficult to control with two people on it."

Tianxia looked over at the man in the bed as she continued, "This turned out to be to your fortune as well...for if he had taken the girl first, no one conscious would have been there when you coughed up blood again. The girl saw this, and when my friend arrived minutes later, told him what happened. He quickly freed the dagger from the tree and took you back here for immediate care; then went with all the speed he could to Rumen to find me, asking me to come out here and help." "And she arrived not a moment too soon," his mother said, "According to the doctor that was here at the time, your heart stopped beating about half a minute before she appeared." The girl smiled, "That would be the fourth time you lucked out that day." "That day?" Tianxia repeated again, "How long have you guys been here?" Aaron gave a solem look, "About a week, give or take a day. We got here a few hours after she did." He looked back at the girl, "Who are you, again? And how exactly do you know all this?" "My name is Anna," she said with a smile, "I'm a cleric. And I know this because I have had plenty of time to get all the facts over the last week as I watched over you and your roommate there."

Now that he was awake, he was moved to a seperate room -where the family of his old "rommate" and his wife (the woman he'd seen and the near-dead man lying beneath the tree) provided him with a large bed, a few nice clothes, a small bag of copper coins, fresh fruit and a metal staff as thanks for his actions (even though he failed to defeat Rei himself, his decision to intervene was what led to the fighter arriving in time to save the three of them). For the next three days, Tianxia was told to stay in the large bedroom -though he refused to stay in bed. On the eve of the third day, a familiar girl walked in.

Tianxia turned from his view out the large window as he heard footsteps on the wooden floor outside the room, looking up in time to see the door open and the cleric walk in. "Hello, Ms. Anna," Tianxia smiled, "I haven't seen you in a while." "I've been tending a few others in the village -seems some kind of illness has been going around of late." Tianxia nodded, "I see; so what brings you here?" "You," she answered, "I'm here to check on how your recovery is coming along." "Ah, I see," Tianxia replied, "And here I thought you just wanted to chat." Anna gave him a firm look, Tianxia raised his hands, "Hey...relax...it was a joke." She shook her head, then motioned to a chair in the corner, "Sit." Tianxia walked over to the wooden stool, and sat down on it, the antique wood creaking slightly as he did so. Anna walked up to him, then proceeded to check his limbs for response -by means of a blindfold and a rather sharp thorn. "Yah! Geeze!" Tianxia shouted as the thorn pressed against his calf, yanking his leg away involuntarily, "Sheesh, isn't there another way we could do this test?" "Yes," she answered, "but none readily available. Sorry." Tianxia shook his head and sighed to himself as he waited for the next sharp pain in a to-be-announced place of his body; but was happily disappointed as he heard her move away. "You can remove the blindfold now," she said; he gladly complied. He looked over at her, she was watching him, as one would watch a tree if you expected it to collapse. "Stand," she ordered with a gesture, again he complied. She continued to watch him, "Any discomfort in the leg?" Tianxia shrugged his hands, "Nope. All good." She nodded at his response, "Jump up and down." He rolled his eyes and started jumping, "I feel like an idiot," he thought to himself. Anna shook her head, "No, I mean on your right leg, the one that was injured." Tianxia sighed again and picked up his left leg, jumping up and down on the right. "How about now?" Anna asked. "Nope. Fine," Tianxia stated with a hint of sarcasm, "Was fine before; it's fine now....can I stop jumping around now?" "Yes," she answered, "And don't get smart with me -I'm in charge of when you get to leave." Tianxia put his other leg down and looked away. "Which, is today," she finished. Tianxia looked back at her, "What?" "You're free to go," she restated. "AH-HAHA!" he laughed, throwing both arms skyward, "Finally! I've been going mad in here!" She nodded, "You can leave now if you want -as you say this place has been driving you mad...however, I suggest you wait until morning, unless you have an alternative place to spend the night." She motioned outside, and Tianxia looked out, remembering that he had been watching the sunset. Reluctantly, he agreed to spend one more night in the room.

The following morning Tianxia woke early, as he was accustomed to doing; and with great speed, packed his belongings. As he exited the building, he saw the cleric, Anna, standing in the courtyard waiting for him. "Here to see your patient off?" he grinned. She replied by handing him an item. "What's this?" he asked as he took it. "I should think a courier would know a letter and package when he saw one," she answered, "I need this taken to a friend of mine in Rumen. I'd take it myself; but I am busy here -and will be for a few days yet." "Rumen?" Tianxia repeated. "It's little more than a day's travel from this town by foot," she continued, "You should use some of the coppers you were given to buy supplies." Tianxia looked at the small letter as she kept speaking, "Payment will be given upon completion." He looked over at her again as she finished. there was a moment of silence before she tilted her head to the side, "Well? Will you accept the job?" Tianxia snapped out of his momentary haze -he was still thinking about going to Rumen, one of the large towns and a place he'd never been before, "Huh? Oh sure! No problem!" Anna nodded, "Good. I sent a pigeon to let him know to expect you. He'll wait for you in the town square by the fountain between three and five for the next two days. If you don't arrive by five o'clock on the second day; the job is cancelled." Tianxia's eyes widened, he hadn't expected a time constraint on this job -especially such a short one for such a long trip. "I suggest you go now," she said with a challenging smile, "Or you might have trouble making it there."

Tianxia nodded and took off for the market, gathering a few supplies for his trip. As he ran off, Anna watched him a moment. "An odd one, that Tianxia. Not strong, certainly not charming...not terribly clever, either," she muttered, "I doubt he'll even make it to Rumen in time; let alone be capable of the next part. I don't know what Shif is thinking -or why I agreed it was a good idea." She turned to go back inside shaking her head, "But ah well; at least let the one dream, and the other try. I need to get back to work." She walked back into the small building, leaving the plans of "Shif" and the toils of Tianxia outside.

Orchids_Mantis

07-24-2009, 02:16 AM

Chapter 2: Lighting of the New Path

The man looked around the open harbor, watching the waves as they glided through the water, gently rolling up and then crashing against the sea wall. A loud chime sounded, grabbing the man's attention as he jerked his head up to look. As the chiming sound died out from inside the clocktower, the loud and somewhat relaxing -yet at the same time annoying- ticking sound resumed. He sighed and shook his head, "That's five...guess I should head back." With that, Shif walked back toward the town inn. Looking up, he smiled to himself a bit, "Heh, not that it's anything to worry about. Without a hobby or horse, there should have been no way he could have made it here in less than a day."

The small beast jumped forward again; slamming its weight into Tianxia's torso and kocking him back. Tianxia fell back a few steps, then swept out with his staff. The metal pole struck the side of the Slime, the beast's body absorbing the impact. As the tip of the staff stopped, the back end yanked hard, coming free og Tianxia's sweaty hands and flipping away, landing a few feet behind him. The Slime charged again; Tianxia staggered, falling to the ground as he tripped over a root. Sensing opportunity, the living glob of purple goo leapt into the air, intent on landing on the human in an attempt to crush his ribs. Tianxia twisted one arm around his body and lifted the other as he rolled aside, the Slime splattering against the ground next to him, then turning to spot its prey attempting to recover. With a squeak, the Slime jumped again; Tianxia's outstretched hand touched something cold as he rolled, the end of the staff he'd dropped. He quickly grabbed the staff, then planted one end in the ground, and pointe dthe other skyward -at the base of the fallig slime. The slime saw the movement and squeaked in horror, but could to nothing to stop what was to come. The Slime's pad struck the tip of the pole, which then penetrated through the beast's body from foot to head. As suddenly as the fight had started, it ended, the Slime falling silent as it continued sliding down the length of the pole.

Tianxia yanked the metal staff from the creature's body, wiping off the purple ooze it left behind, and fell to the ground, exhausted. "There's...there's no way...I can fin...finish this today," he panted, "I need to rest." He looked around, praying no other Slimes -or heaven forbid a Mushroom- were nearby (this last one had ambushed him as he walked by a thick shrub). As his breathng slowed, he began to set up camp. He unpacked his tent, gathered some dry wood and small stones (for heat once the fire had died), then with flint and tinder he had purchased in town, made a fire for himself near the tent door. He sat by the warm fire for a bit, eating a few handfuls of dried fish as a dinner, then pulled his mat from his bag, and placed it in the tent. He laid down, using his bag as a pillow, and took a deep breath. "I've gone about halfway so far," he said in a tired voice, "I shou-HA.." he stopped to yawn, "I should be able to finish the other half without too much trouble tomorrow." His eyelids grew heavy and he soon fell asleep; the warm fire continuing to crackle lightly as it burned through the small pile of wood he'd collected.

The thin of the brush beneath his feet cracked and crushed, he swiped at the low tree braches that dropped low to the ground; panting heavily as he ran. The contant thumping of a large angry monster was slowly growing louder; Tianxia didn't dare to look behind himself again for fear that he might miss a root and trip, allowing the Fire Mushroom he'd stumbled upon the opportunity to catch him on the ground. The hopping beast continued its pursuit of the courier as he dashed through the forest, hoping eventually the beast would tire and break off its chase. Another large tree branch appeared, and Tianxia prepared to hurdle the long arm of the tree. The thudding was getting closer again; the hopping Mushroom seemed intent on getting to him regardless of the length of its pursuit. He looked a bit farther up the tree, noticing that about ten feet off the ground was another large branch that grandually curved upwards to the top of a rocky cliff. Inspiration suddenly came to him; quickly he removed his belt and leapt forward. His feet landed on the first branch, which bent down with the force of his landing; as the branch started to come back up, Tianxia reversed direction and jumped again, whippng his belt up and over with his righ hand, stretching his left out thumb down and praying his idea worked. The side of the belt hit the large branch, the upper section wrapped around, buckle striking the underside of the branch then swinging back down again. Tianxia's outstretched left hand grabbed just above the buckle, and pulled as hard as he could. The upward motion from his jump coupled with the pull from the belt was more than all he needed to pull his legs up and wrap them around the tree branch, locking ankles together. Ten feet below him, the Fire Mushroom came to a halt, looking up at the human. The beast jumped up and punched, but the Fire Mushroom's body was built for jumping horizontaly, not verticaly; its attack ended more than four feet shy of the treed courier. Angrily, the Fire Mushroom began pacing around the trunk, glaring up into the tree.

Tianxia slowly worked his way around the branch to sit atop it; he looked down and smiled at the Mushroom as he put his belt back on, "Sorry. Looks like you'll have to find your dinner elsewhere!" The Mushroom was not amused. Furiously, it began punching the tree, but even its strong arms couldn't break through four feet of solid hardwood. Tianxia scooted over to the trunk, using it for balance as he stood; then carefully walked across the branch to the top of the cliff next to it. He turned around as his feet touched rock -glad to be back on the ground- and gave an aggravating smile as he waved to the Fire Mushroom, still standing below, glaring at him. Tianxia walked away smiling, then suddenly stopped. He looked around the forest, realizing he'd been so desperate to get away from the monster, that he'd forgotten which way he'd come from -as he'd changed course to try to lose the beast so many times. He looked up, but the forest canopy blocked most of the sky, and based on the shadows, it was nearly noon; so telling direction would be difficult as the sun would be directly overhead.

He began to stagger through the forest, trudging along uphill praying he could find a landmark, a sign, a path -something that could help him find his way to Rumen. As he began to despair, thinking he'd be lost in the woods for days; he reached a clearing leading to the top of a mountain. He stumbled up to the top, tripping several times, but hope restored as once he reached the summit he'd surely see where he was. He reached the top with a smile and looked out, heart sinking and smile fading. Before him stretched a long forest, almost out to the horizon -even from the top of this mountain; to the South the forest ran out a few miles, then it hit the ocean. A long ways out to the East, a river parted the forest in two, running North into a series of mist-covered canyons. And there, almost touching the horizon, was a yellow indentation in the forest. Just past that indentation was a small patch of green where the forest continued before it ran into the sea once again. That little indent was it...Roumen. He had perhaps less than five hours to make it to Rumen; and he was about seven hours away from the town. He breifly debated giving up, just going back to another village and trying to get another parcel to deliver; but for some reason, something inside of him told him to go for it. "I must be insane," he said as he looked at the distance he had to cover again, "there's no way I can make it from here." Still, the nagging feeling wouldn't go away, and he resigned himself to at least attempting to finish. Gritting his teeth and taking a slow, deep breath, he leapt forward, bounding down the mountainside, heading toward Rumen as straight and as fast as he could.

It was another warm day in town; but the seabreeze always helped it to feel cooler. Shif smiled, brushing his long purple hair over his shoulder as he stood listening to the splashing water by the town's fountain. The clocktower began to chime, a short yet merry tune of high-range bells to let people know the hour was changing, followed by three lower, much louder chimes. "There's three," Shif said as he looked around, "Yet still no courier. It seems I may have overestimated him." He stretched a bit, "But he still has two more hours to get here...maybe he will make it yet."

Brush shuffled, leaves crunched and wood snapped as Tianxia trudged through the forest. He had been off the path since runnign down the mountain, he'd run out of the energy he needed to run hours ago; but he refused to stop and give up. His foot hit a root growing up from the ground below him, trippnig him; the courier so tired he couldn't correct in time and fell to the ground. Groaning, he pushed himself up from the ground, bringing his legs up beheath him, and got back to his feet. He stumbled again, reaching out and grabbing a tree for support. For a brief moment he stood panting, puttig most of his weight on the branch; sweat pouring down from his brow, running down his face and neck, dripping onto the dirt beneath his feet. He reached down to his side; grabbing the hollow gourd filled with water, and drank a small mouthful before capping it and refastening it to his side. He looked down. The shadows had moved a long ways since his escape from the Mushroom at noon. Now they had swung around the base of the trees, slowly stretching out toward the Eastern horizon -the sun was not waiting for him. "I can't....stop," he panted, "I have...to at least try... to finish." With that his arm dropped from the branch, and he continued to stagger through the brush toward Rumen.

Daevor

07-24-2009, 03:00 AM

I started reading the story of the 4 brothers... lots of reading, I'll have to book off a whole weekend to read it all.

But so far: great writing skills.

Eternal_Doom

07-25-2009, 03:57 PM

I read this two days ago (or was it yesterday? Ah well), and I would have posted, but the story was getting too intense, and I didn't want to randomly disrupt the storyline, so I'll say now what I was going to say then...

Lovin' it!

But if I may ask, what happened? First he was dying, now he's in a canoe? O_o

Orchids_Mantis

07-26-2009, 12:32 AM

Chapter 2: Lighting of the New Path

The chimes sounded again, and there was still no sign of the courier. Shif hung his head, shaking it slightly as the low chime tolled five times. "Well that's it," he said, "Guess he is not coming." He turned to head back to the town inn, "Shame. I was looking forward to this too." He moved over to the stairs leading to the upper section of the town, then stopped, he heard a strange commotion from some of the people on the lower side. He turned to see people talking to each other in wonder, staring and pointing off toward the forest. He looked in the same direction, eyes widening as a young man, clearly exhausted, face covered in dirt and mud, sticks and leaves clinging to his clothes and hair, staggered out of the forest, making slowly for the fountain. The man passed by the onlookers without giving second glance, his eyes fixed on the fountain where he had been standing moments before; panting heavily as he trudged forward. Once the man reached the fountain he stopped, looking around -searching for someone, upon seeing no one else there at the time, the man looked up at the sky, turned around, and collapsed. The man had the attention of most people in the town -even Rumenous was watching with interest- as he sat back up and slowly scooted backwards until his back was resting against the fountain. There the man sat, simply looking out to sea.

No one approached the man from the forest, they simply stood and stared, continuing to talk and point. After a moment, Shif walked forwards, approaching the dirt-covered man. The man looked up with a tired expression, shoulders still rising and falling as he panted. "You the courier?" Shif asked. The man nodded, "You...the fighter...that the cleric...sent me for?" Shif nodded in return, Tianxia reached backwards clumsily, grabbed the parcel from his pack and held it out to the fighter. "You're late," the fighter said without taking it, "The job was cancelled." Tianxia looked up, "I know..I'm late.." he replied, "I didn't...come here to...get paid. *pant* I came...to see it through...to see if I...could make it anyways." His hand dropped to the ground, the small box falling from his grip. Tianxia's head fell to one side, "There's your box...no charge."

The fighter regarded the courier a moment, then reached down and grabbed the box, opening the letter attatched to it. "Hm, this letter is about you," he said. Tianxia looked up, wondering what he was talking about. "It's about the little run-in you had with that killer, Rei," he clarified, "She's telling me about all the details she has gathered about your encounter -I was kind of curious. The girl told me you were trying to help her, defeated the first murderer, then lost in a fight with Rei; but she didn't tell me everything." The fighter looked back at Tianxia, "You didn't exactly go charging in on a white horse, staff in hand, other hand held skyward with a mighty yell, did you?" Tianxia looked away, the fighter continued, "You were watching, waiting for a moment to strike while they were distracted until one of them saw you; forcing you to either run and leave the girl to die, or face them in the open and possibly die yourself." The fighter paused a moment, "Given your obvious lack of fighting ability or strength -or any kind of armor- I am surprised you decided to fight them." Tianxia sneered as he looked at the water, "And delivering this parcel from that town; a job difficult in terms of sheer distance, let alone the monsters you undoubtedly came across. Most couriers would have turned back; especially once the saw they would be late. You, however, continued on, going through the forest to get here despite knowing there was no reward at the end other than having finished." Tianxia began to wonder what the fighter was talking about. "Bravery mixed with foolishness, a bit of arrogance, stubborn will, pride and some intellect," Shif said with a smile, "Those traits should serve you well. You may do."

Tianxia turned to look at the fighter, "Huh? May do what?" Shif gave a challenging grin, "Let me ask you a question: Have you ever wanted to be an adventurer?" Tianxia's eyes widened, "What?" "Well to be more specific: have you ever wanted to be a fighter?" he replied. Tianxia stared at the fighter blankly for a few moments. Shif looked back at him, "Well?" "Well what?" Tianxia asked as he looked to the side, "Of course. Every kid wants to be an adventurer; I'd assume almost every boy wanted at some point to be a swordsman." "I mean seriously," Shif retorted, "If given the opportunity, would you take it?" "Heh...why? You offering me the chance?" he laughed. "Actually, yes," the fighter answered, "If you want to take it, the opportunity will be given to you." Tianxia looked back up at him -this guy was serious. He regarded the fighter for a moment, then stood up, "You're...not joking? I could be a swordsman?" Shif's face hardened a bit, "No." Tianxia's heart sank a bit, "I knew it was a joke," he thought. "The courier standing here could never be a fighter," Shif said; Tianxia looked up at the comment. Shif continued to speak, "The one before me lacks strength, power, speed, endurance, and any sort of skill in combat -besides perhaps blind luck."

Tianxia's eyes narrowed slightly, Shif looked straight into his eyes, "But you have the heart for it. By not attacking those two thieves blindly, you showed proper judgement. A fighter has to know when not to attack as much as he needs to know how to attack. Your decision to risk your life to fight them when spotted, in order to help save the lives of others, is another trait that is needed. A fighter is expected to place himself between the blade of an enemy and an ally -to take the hit themselves in order to prevent their friends from taking it. During your fight with Rei, you continued to get up in an attempt to fight him, despite knowing you had no chance. To deliver my letter here, you ran to the point of complete exhaustion through the forest, despite knowing that you would be late and the job cancelled, just to finish what you started. This tenacity is also required of a fighter -for if he were to turn and run, or roll over and die as soon as it became difficult, hard to bear or painful, all those depending on his sword and shield would die." Shif grabbed the hilt of his sheathed blade, and pulled it out, holding it in front of him, "Strength, endurance, flexibility, precision, power, speed...some people are born with these gifts which make them naturally adept at fighting. But the traits of the mind are more important. With training, one can improve one's strength or speed, with stretching, flexibility increases, with practise, aim can easilly be improved. But no matter how strong or fast someone is born, they cannot match someone who is naturally cautious, instictively tenacious, or gifted with the desire to protect others; because those are traits much more difficult to teach."

He pointed the sword at Tianxia's chest, "So I ask one more time: If you are given the chance to be a fighter; will you take it?" Tianxia stared at the man for a moment, then hardened his own expression, "Yes." Shif smiled, "Then I should introduce myself. I am called Shif; a warrior swordsman; and your new instructor in the art of combat." The fighter sheathed his sword, then turned around, "Follow me; we have a lot of work ahead of us today." Tianxia swallowed -he was already so tired, he didn't know about starting that day, "Training so soon?" Shif stopped and looked back, Tianxia's eyes widened slightly as he wondered if he should not have sounded so whiney about the idea. Shif smiled, "No...getting you cleaned up so I am not embarassed to call you my apprentice," he pointed to the people still watching him, "And so you stop attracting so much attention to us." Shif began walking back into town again, "Let's go." Tianxia stood there a few moments; wondering what exactly he had just gotten himself into.

Orchids_Mantis

07-28-2009, 09:29 PM

Chapter 2: Lighting of the New Path

Tianxia stopped a moment to catch his breath. "How much farther is it?" he panted, "And why is it that it seems we've managed to somehow walk uphill for eight hours?" Shif turned to look back at him, "Not much farther. And because we've been walking uphill for about eight hours." Tianxia looked up incredulously, the fighter continued to look down at him, then after a moment he spoke again, "You coming or what?" Tianxia sighed lightly, then somehow lifting sore and heavy legs, followed after him. The two had left the inn at Rumen just before daybreak that morning, supposedly heading out to the place where Shif would train him. Initially, Tianxia thought that he'd be well rested upon reaching the training area, as he was accustomed to moving reasonable distances in a day. Shif, however, decided it would be more beneficial for Tianxia to make the hike with deceptively small -and incredibly heavy- weights tied to his lower legs; which made the journey much more difficult.

"Well, there it is," Shif said chipperly after another half hour of walking, Tianxia gasping for breath behind him, "You can take off the weights now...we're here." "Thank Teva," he panted as he reached down and unfastened the small weights, which thumped to the ground leaving him feeling eight times lighter. He looked ahead, the place didn't look like much; it was really just a big house made of logs with some vines growing over the side. Shif unlocked and opened the front door to the small domicile, "Alright, let's get started with your training." Tianxia's eyes widened, "What?" Shif turned to look back again, "Your training," he repeated, "It starts now. Come in so we can begin." "I thought walking up here with the weights on was training," Tianxia replied. Shif gave a puzzled look, "What made you think that?" Tianxia's mouth hung open, eyebrows furrowing, "Well if it wasn't then why the heck did you tie those weights to my legs and tell me to walk up here with them!?" Shif smiled, "I just thought it would be fun to see if you could do it." Tianxia stared at the fighter in silence, Shif smiled again, then turned to go back in, "Well let's begin, shall we? ....You coming?"

The inside of the house was not much more impressive than the outside. The furniture -what little there was- seemed hand-crafted...and not by someone familiar with such a craft; there was a single rug on the floor, and two beds in two seperate rooms. The kitchen was simply a table along one wall with a large cauldron-pot for stewing food. Shif moved past these areas and motioned to a door in the back, "Through here." Tianxia stopped, looking at the fighter as though he were insane, "Wouldn't it have been easier to go around?" he asked, "I mean; I don't see why you brought me in here if we're just going back outside again." "Look. Just go through the door," the fighter said dryly, "Or go back home." He raised his hands in surrender, "Alright, I'll go." "Crazy fighter wants me to walk into a house then back out, fine," he muttered under his breath, "whatever...I wonder if he's actually gonna teach me anything or if he's.." his words cut off as he looked around, the mountain and forest they'd been hiking in were gone, he was in a field full of tall grass. He looked around in amazement, "What the heck...?" "Gateways," Schif said from behind him. Tianxia turned, seeing the fighter standing next to a blue archway with a purple energy radiating inside of it. "Two points with the same magical energy connecting them. They act as doorways to each other regardless of how far apart they are placed. Entering into one sends you out the other." Shif looked at the bewildered Tianxia with a grin, "That's your first lesson."

He nodded a bit as he approached the courier, managing to somehow produce Tianxia's staff from an impossibly small bag resting against his hip -strap slung around his shoulder, "And your second...will be your stance." "Stance?" Tianxia repeated, "What do you mean?" "I mean the way you hold yourself in battle," he answered, handing him the metal staff, "Here, show me how you stand when you fight." Tianxia grabbed the low end of the staff in both hands, placing one leg back and straightening his legs as he raised the staff over his shoulder. Shif laughed a bit, covering his face with one hand, "Wow...that's really how you stand?" "Yeah," Tianxia replied, "Why what's wrong with it?" Shif raised his left hand to his face, placing his right in a pocket -elbow sticking out, and walked forward. He stopped just short of Tianxia, nodding a bit and lowering his left hand, "Nothing. Nothing at all." He suddenly twisted, his elbow coming around and impacting against Tianxia's chest, knocking him back. As Tianxia started to step back, Shif reversed his turn and brought his leg around behind Tianxia's, sending him to the ground. The fighter looked down at him, "As long as you don't mind the view from down there," he finished.

Shif retrieved the staff, which had fallen from Tianxia's grasp as he fell, and Tianxia got back to his feet. The fighter then drew his sword, motioning to a spot on the ground, "Stand here." Exhausted and slightly humiliated, Tianxia walked over and stood. Shif began to walk around him, "Back straight." Shif tapped the inside of his legs with the broad side of the blade, "Legs out, more than shoulder width." Tianxia rolled his eyes slightly and stepped out wide. The back end of the blade smacked against his head with a light ringing sound, Tianxia instinctively brought his hand up to the fresh sore point on his skull, "GAH!" "Not that far, smart-alek," Shif said with eyes narrowed, "SLIGHTLY more than shoulder width." Tianxia corrected as the fighter walked around him in a circle, "Bend your knees a bit more...good." The back of the blade struck him again, this time in his back. He arched back, yelling at the sudden and unexpected impact, "Yow! Cut that out!" "Then straighten your back," he replied plainly, "And I won't have a reason to do that." Shif continued to walk around Tianxia for a moment, nodding slightly, "That's a lot better. This is the beginner's stance." Tianxia, thighs beginning to burn, looked back at him, "How's this any better?" Schif made no reply at first, then whirled around, lightly bumping his elbow into Tianxia's chest again. Tianxia grunted as the bone pressed into his stomach, body moving back slightly; but his knees bent with the motion and he stayed his ground. He looked back up at the fighter, who looked back with a bemused expression, "Question answered?" Tianxia nodded, "Question answered." "Good," Shif said as he turned and walked away.

"Well I see you were serious about training him," a familiar voice said from nearby. The fighter laughed, turning toward the direction the voice had come from as Tianxia twisted to see who it was, spying the blue-haired cleric he'd met in the village. "Yes, I was," Shif smiled. "I don't know why you waste your time or his energy on such a hopeless endeavor, but it IS your time." Tianxia grimmaced at her comment -and at the pain building in his legs. "Now now, he's not THAT bad," Shif said playfully, "He's just...well...well okay I can see your reason for thinking he's hopeless but really, he's not." Tianxia rolled his eyes at that, "My confidence abounds by means of my teacher's confidence in me," he muttered to himself. The cleric looked at Tianxia, then looked back at Shif, chuckling, "The Newby stance?" "Yeah," he chuckled back, "Starting from peg one." He checked Tianxia's stance again and nodded, moving over to a chair, "Doing good so far. Now just hold that stance for about three hours." Tianxia's eyes widened, "WHAT?! You can't possibly expect me to stand here for three hours just like this!" Shif paused a moment, as though thinking, "Hm...I guess you're right." "Oh thank heaven," he whispered as Shif walked back over. "Wait..What are you doing? STOP!" Tianxia yelled in surprise as Shif placed a heavy metal helmet on his head. "There," Shif smiled, "That should do...Oh, and if you take off the helmet or step out of that stance, I won't train you any further." Tianxia shut his eyes, not sure whether he wanted to laugh or shout, and wondering exactly what the rest of the training would be like.

A rush of incredible cold splashed against his body, jolting him from sleep. Tianxia yelled and lunged from the bed, falling to the ground. He looked up, water dripping from his soaked hair, seeing his trainer in the doorway, bucket in hand, smiling, "Wakey wakey. Time to get to work." He looked outside, it was just barely dawn, "What? You're insane! I came in here to sleep like four hours ago!" "I know," he replied, "I let you sleep in a bit. Don't worry; I won't let that happen much." Shif moved to the doorway, then stopped, seeing Tianxia still lying o nthe ground, "Well? Get dressed and come on, we've got a lot to do! First breakfast, then training!"

The sun was up by the time they had finished their morning meal -and Tianxia had cleaned the dishes (he was pretty sure Shif was making up the part of washing dishes being training for him). They moved outside, where Shif walked up to a small tree with many branches shooting off from its trunk. "This is your first session for today," he said, "You are to strip the tree of its branches, using this," as he finished, he reached into his bag and produced a machete. "It's as simple as it sounds; simply hold the machete like this...then swing down, arm then blade, through the branches." He demonstrated a few strokes, easily slicing through some of the thicker branches, "Try to cut as close to the trunk as you can; if you leave a stub, then cut that off too." He handed the machete to Tianxia, then pointed him toward the tree and stepped back a ways, "Have at it." Tianxia selected a branch, raised his arm, then brought it and the blade down. The metal blade struck the wooden branch, moved a quarter inch into the wood, then stopped dead. Tianxia frowned as he pulled the blade free and raised it again. Once more he sent the blade down, and again the blade sank in slightly, then stopped; deepening the cut, but not by much. The blue haired man growled as he raised the machete again, and grunted, bringing the blade down hard against the branch. The metal impacted, bouncing back up from the branch. The handle came free from his grip and the weapon bounced up and back, spiraling over his shoulder. There was a loud yell from behind him, the sound of someone falling to the ground; then a dull thud, followed by a wobbling sound. Wide-eyed, Tianxia looked behind him, seeing the machete buried into the post of the gateway, wobbling from side to side; and on the ground in front of it, was Shif, staring equally wide-eyed at Tianxia, bleeding slightly from a newly-acquired three inch long cut across his left cheek. They continued to stare at each other in silence a moment, Tianxia staring in horror at nearly killing his teacher, Shif staring in shock and disbelief at his apprentice's clumsiness. Shif finally got to his feet, finding his voice, "I think...maybe we should start with something a little easier."

Tianxia squatted low to the ground and reached forward, grabbing a handful of the long grass at its base. Then with his other hand, he took a small knife and cut through them all, leaving only two inches standing. He threw the grass in his hand -the rest of which covered the whole field- behind him, then moved on to the next handful. Suddenly his leg was swept out from under him, and he found himself on his back looking up at his teacher. Tianxia looked around for a moment, "Okay...I deserved that...but I said I'm sorry." "I know," the fighter answered, "This has nothing to do with that." He knelt down next to Tianxia as he got back to his knees, "You see this?" he asked, pointing to the grass. Tianxia looked at the greeen ground cover, "What?" "This patch of grass right here," Shif answered. "Yeah, okay," Tian replied, "What about it?" Shif looked over at him, "It's higher than the stuff around it...why is that?" Tianxia's eyes shifted from one side to the other, "I dunno, because I didn't cut it the same length?" Shif nodded, "Ah. Well, then...go ahead and cut it the same length as the rest of the grass." Tianxia took a deep breath and reached forward, grabbing the top of the turf and cutting a piece off, "Better?" Shif leaned forward, "Aww..now it's lower than the rest of the grass." "You can barely see that now," Tianxia answered, "In a few days no one will be able to tell!" Shif shook his head, "Nope...no. No good. You have to cut the rest of the grass you already cut to match it; then start on the stuff you haven't started yet." "What?" he shouted incredulously, "You want me to cut all the grass in this field to the same length using a freaking steak knife!?" Shif looked back at him, "If you can't even control a steak knife while cutting grass, how do you expect to control a sword while slicing at a target? Especially in combat?" Shif stood up, "Now, cut the grass to the same hieght...all of it."

A few hours later, Tianxia had made quite some progress into the field; and once more Shif sat in his chair watching him. A light whispering sound came from the gateway as Anna stepped through. She immediately took note of the white patch over his left cheek and the apprentice cutting grass with a steak knife -and the new notch in the side of the gateway. "So," she said with a knowing smile, "How's training going today?" Shif pursed his lips and glared at her a bit, "Not today, Anna...not today."

Orchids_Mantis

07-29-2009, 01:23 AM

Chapter 2: Lighting of the New Path

Tianxia hefted the axe in his hand, swinging downward; the axehead plunging into the trunk of the tree and sending a few more slivers of wood to the ground below. Without pause, he again pulled the small hatchet free, lifted it into the air again, only to once more chop at the tree. He swore to himself lightly as blisters began to form on his hand, the tree showing only bare signs of something trying to hack it down -it was as though the tree were slowly whittling away at him as well.

Some distance away; Shif watched his pupil with a grimmace. Standing beside him, making her usual observational commentary, was the blue haired cleric, Anna. "Week ten...and I think he's actually getting worse," she chuckled looking at the fighter next to her. "Don't joke," Shif replied, "Because I think you might be right." "I didn't say I was joking," she said looking back at him, "But I don't need to joke to find it funny." Shif shook his head as Tianxia growled and started hacking faster -as he had tendencies to do every five minutes or so- then sighed, "Well...at least he's hitting the right tree..." He raised his hand to his face, feeling the wound still healing on his cheek, "...and the hatchet is staying in his hand." Anna looked back at the courier, "Well that's something, at least." She paused for a moment, then looked off into the woods, "I still think you're wasting your time, though." Tianxia swore as another blister broke open, the hatchet rubbing the raw skin beneath it, but the man refused to stop and kept chopping at the tree, grimmacing with each impact as the handle rubbed against the new area of exposed underskin. "He's tenacious, you have to give him that," Shif commented as he watched. "So's a fly trying to figure out how to get out a shut window," Anna shot back, "Doesn't make it less pathetic."

Shif grinned momentarilly, something that caught her off guard; then he got up and walked over to Tianxia, motioning for him to stop. Shif opened his mouth and inhaled, then closed his mouth and sighed, looking away -as though not sure what to say. Tianxia grew puzzled, "What is it, Shif?" The fighter nodded, grinning a bit, and motioned toward the gateway, "Come with me a moment." Confused, Tianxia and Anna both followed him. He led them through the house and outside, then down a narrow path to a large barn at a neighboring farm. Shif opened the barn's side door, motioning for them to go inside. "This farm belongs to another friend of mine," he explained as the walked in, "He allows me to use it when I need to; so don't worry about us trespassing." The barn had several floors to it, with a large square hole cut in the center of them all. Shif walked to the center of the room, turning to Tianxia, "Tianxia, stand here." "Okay," Tianxia said slowly. "Anna," he motioned to the side a little, "You may want to move a little left or right." She looked around and didn't see anything to be cautious of, but decided she should do as he suggested.

Shif then climbed a nearby ladder to the second floor, and started tinkering with something that Tianxia couldn't see very well -but he thought he made out the shape of ropes jiggling back and forth. "Tianxia!" Shif called from the shadows. "Yes?" he answered back. "Listen carefully: Don't dodge it; catch it!" he called back. "Don't dodge it, catch it," Tianxia repeated to himself, "What am I supposed to...WHOA!" There was a slight jingle of metal, then the sound of straining rope; that was his only warning. A large shadow suddenly appeared, flying striaght toward him from the second floor; Shif had just tied one of the bales of hay stored on the second floor to a pulley -used normally to move the bales up to and down from the storage area- and sent it swinging down at Tianxia. His first instinct had him starting to move to the side, then he remembered his teacher's command. Spreading his legs shoulder width and slightly bending his knees, he braced himself, putting his arms out front. The bale of dried grass slammed into him, pushing him slightly back, but he managed to keep his balance. "Are you okay?" Shif called, looking over the edge at him, "Did you catch it?" "Yeah," Tianxia called back in shock, "More or less." Shif's head disappeared over the side, "Good." Tianxia's eyes widened as he heard a famailiar jingling sound, "Then catch this one." Another bale of hay swung down, slamming into the first, then into Tianxia. From her spot on the side, Anna chuckled, watching the young man's reaction when the bales knocked into him. "And this one!" Shif called as yet another hay bale swung down. In all, five bales swung down from the second floor, one after the other, each slamming forcefully into the young man standing in the center of the room.

Shif climbed down from the second floor, chuckling lightly. Tianxia, understandably upset, frowned at the man, "What the heck was all that about!?" Shif smiled, "You blocked every one of the hay bales, correct?" Tianxia shrugged lightly, looking around the room, "Yeah." The fighter nodded, "And even though I kept sending them at you, you were still able to block them, right?" Tianxia spread his hands, "Yeah." Shif nodded again, "Think you could stop them all again?" Tianxia looked around a moment, "Yeah, sure...I don't see why not." "Hm," he nodded, looking like he was thinking a bit, "Think you could catch ten of them?" Tianxia made a face, "Yeah, five, ten...whatever." Shif smiled and climbed back up the ladder, pulling the bales back up as well.

Anna folded her arms as she watched in anticipation -she was enjoying watching Shif teach today. "You ready down there?" Shif called from the dark rafters. Tianxia shook his head, spreading his hands, "Yeah, sure...I guess so." Anna's eyes shot open wide, her mouth dropping a bit as an enormous shadow lunged from the second floor, flinging towards Tianxia. "WHAT THE HELL!?" he shouted as he dove out of the way. Ten bales of hay all lashed together and tied to the same rope swung past him, arcing up, then swinging back towards the spot they had come from. Shif poked his head over the side, "Hey, Tianxia! You were supposed to CATCH them!" Tianxia rolled onto his back to look up at the fighter as the massive square of hay swung over his face again, "Hell no!"

Shif smiled and jumped down from the rafters, then helped Tianxia to his feet after th bakes stopped swinging. "I thought you said you could catch ten," Shif chuckled. "One at a time like you were doing before!" Tianxia shouted back, "Not all at once!" Shif gave an innocent expression, "It's harder to catch them all at once?" "Well duh!" Tianxia shot back, "There's more force behind it when they all come at once!" Shif raised his hand, pointing at Tianxia with a serious look, "Exactly!" Now Tianxia was confused, "Exactly what?" Shif jabbed his finger as he replied, "Just as there was more force behind those hay bales moving together than alone, so too Tianxia, is it with your swings of an axe or sword. If you only use your arm, it is the same as sending one bale after another into your target. But if you move your whole body with the stroke, your attack will gain much greater power. You can, in a single stroke that uses your whole body, do more than you can with ten single strokes using only your arm." Tianxia looked at the fighter standing in front of him, then he turned to look at the massive hay bale hanging behind him, then looked back at the fighter, "Okay....I'm listening."

Shif smiled, "Good." He then drew his sword and made a small square where Tianxia stood. "What's with the square?" he asked looking down. "You'll see," Shif smiled, "Step forward." Tianxia shuffled forward; Shif shook his head, "No no no. I said 'step'. Take a single step forward, don't take three or two...one step; step out to the front." Tianxia complied, stepping out to the front. Shif nodded, "Good; but you'll notice that you only moved your legs..your body was completely still." Tianxia nodded, "Yeah...what about it?" "It's not moving, that's what," the fighter answered, "Tianxia, whenever you step, move your shoulders and body with the step." Shif stepped out in a mirror of Tianxia's step, but as he stepped out, his same-side shoulder dipped down, then came up moving forward too, "Like this. now you try." Tianxia copied the move, Shif nodded, "Not bad. Now step back to the center of the box and do it with the other side. Good." Tianxia rolled his eyes, it felt completely juvenile. "Now then, keep that motion in mind, and step back," Shif commanded. Tianxia did as he was told, Shif shook his head, "No no; close, but not quite. When you step back, bring your shoulder up, then down. Try again." Tianxia sighed and did it again; this time Shif approved. "Good," he said," Think of it as a dance. Step out to the side, then back in, out front, then back in, out front with the other leg, then back in...etcetera etcetera all the way around the box. Keep moving your body and shoulders with your step." Tianxia rolled his eyes and complied; going around the box once with his step-and-swing dance, then stopped. Shif looked at Tianxia as he stopped, "What...why'd you stop?" Tianxia shrugged, mouth open slightly as he stammered, "I didn't say for you to stop; keep going!" Tianxia sighed and continued, Anna and Shif continuing to talk as they watched him.

Orchids_Mantis

07-29-2009, 01:24 AM

Chapter 2: Lighting of the New Path

After two hours of the "dance", Tianxia had had enough. He stopped and turned to look at his teacher. "Why are you stopping?" Shif frowned. "Because I don't see how this is helping me!" he said back, "I mean you get right up to something I can actually understand back there with the hay bales; now it's back to garden work and crazy dances that I just don't get!" Shif's face went stone, and he walked forward, drawing his sword. Tianxia started to step back, but Shif was too fast; before he'd gone a step, the fighter was behind him, blocking his planned escape. To Tianxia's relief and surprise, though, Shif handed the young man the sword, "Get back in the box." Tianxia shrank back, holding the sword as he stood in the small box -it suddenly felt very hot and stuffy in the barn. Shif took a breath, then looked at his apprentice, "Now, step forward." Tianxia complied, stepping forward and swinging his shoulder down and up with the step; holding the sword in place. Shif stepped forward, grabbing the sword above Tianxia's hands, "bring the sword with you as you step, like this", swinging it up at a fortyfive degree angle -the same path his shoulders had taken. "Now, step back," he spoke plainly. Tianxia stepped back, Shif moved his hands so the sword came down at a fortyfive degree angle with his shoulders, "Breathe out as your blade moves toward your target." Tianxia's eyes widened and he looked over at the fighter, who said nothing, but took a few steps to one side, then nodded, "Now attack the hay next to me." Tianxia nodded, moving toward the hay bale; and swung out. Before he could stop the blade, Shif moved his arm out in front. The blade impacted the armor he wore, and gave off a loud ringing sound, vibrating in his sore hands. The fighter looked back at him, "When you first started, that would have knocked the sword free from your weak grip. By spending that last few weeks doing your 'garden work' you have been working on your grip, your stances, and your endurance." The purple haired fighter grinned, "How could I have taught you how to fight; without first teaching you how to keep hold of your sword; and stay on your feet?"

Tianxia gaped as he listened to the fighter talk to him -he really had no idea what had been going on -he thought the swordsman was just crazy. Shif motioned for Tianxia to get back in the box; Tianxia complied, still awestruck at seeing the improvement in his ability. "Now," Shif said loudly, getting Tianxia's attention, "To the front...strike!" Tianxia stepped forward, dipping shoulder down, then bringing shoulder, arm, torso and balde up as he breathed out. "To the back...Strike!" Tianxia complied. Shif nodded, "Good; Side...Strike! Center..Strike! Back..Strike!"

Two weeks later, Tianxia was sitting in his room at day's end -rubbing incredibly sore arms. He suddenly became aware of someone else watching him, and he looked to see his door was open; the cleric standing in the doorway, holding a box in front of her. "I have to admit," she said before Tianxia could greet her, "I didn't think you'd even make it to Rumen. When you did; I swore it was a fluke; and that you'd get nowhere, even with him training you." She looked down, then handed him the box she had. "What's this?" Tianxia asked as he took it from her. "It's the parcel I sent you to Rumen with," she said, looking away, "You gave it to Shif, who gave it back to me when I arrived. He said for me to give it to you when I thought you could actually pass yourself off as a swordsman...and...I cannot deny the progress that I have seen you make. I may not think you are the most capable out there -certainly far from the best; but...you do have what one needs to be a fighter." Tianxia opened the box, seeing a set of red clothes inside of them, "Clothes?" Anna nodded, "The outfit of the swordsman that is just beginning as an adventurer. They increase the speed with which you gain strength from training and fighting; along with a few other useful feautres you will learn about later. Wear those when you train from now on." Tianxia nodded and she turned away, then hesitated a moment. "Good work, Tianxia," she said without looking back, then walked away. Tianxia was left in his room with a mixture of feelings; but one suddenly welled up within him -much larger than all the others: fatigue. His eyes suddenly became incredibly heavy; and he decided his revelry at the new acquisition could wait until tomorrow. He dressed himself for bed and collapsed -asleep before his body hit the mattress.

The darkness of his sleep was muddled with a distant conversation between two people. He felt emotions flowing from them. The first, worried, anxious and apprehensive; the second, resigned, determined and hopeful. The words echoed in the darkness; but were still clear -though for some reason; he couldn't give them full attention -it was as though half-listening was the best he could do despite his best efforts. "You're going to have him do it tomorrow!?" the first voice echoed. "Yes," came the distant reply. "You're insane!" the first shot back. "That has yet to be proven," the second replied calmly. He felt the aggravation of the first being grow, "This is not a joke! Quit smiling! If he tries the awakening now; it will kill him!" "You don't know that," the second voice, countered, "He could very well surprise you -again." There was a pause before the second voice continued, "Besides; you gave him the set." "You said to do that when I thought he earned the title of swordsman, NOT when I thought he was ready for THIS!" the first voice, the higher pitched of the two, said defensively. "Well it turns out they were linked," the second voice said softly, "Anyways he has a perfectly good chance; he has the..." "'He has the heart for it', I know. You've been saying that from the start," the voice interrupted, "And if you put him through this tomorrow; you will see that heart cut out of him and thrown onto the ground as he bleeds to death. There will be no 'hey guess what his heart is on the other side of his chest' this time; his opponent will hollow out his entire chest cavity to find it, if need be!" The second voice said nothing, the first seemed to be waiting for it to respond. Finally the second voice spoke again, somewhat resigned, "The decision has been made; it's out of my hands. He does it tomorrow." He felt the second presence grow more distant, as though moving away; the first lingered for a moment, before saying softly to the other presence, "If he does this now....he will die." The second presence stopped a moment, saying nothing, then continued to move away, the first moving with it; leaving the silent darkness to close around him once again.

Orchids_Mantis

07-30-2009, 10:09 PM

Chapter 3: The Fighter's Awakening

He opened his eyes; vague images and soft voices of a strange dream lurking just out of focus in his mind. He turned to the side, wanting to fall back asleep as he shut his eyes, thinking he'd wonder later about why his door was open. "My door!" he thought as his eyes snapped open, "I can see it! It's not dark!" He shot out of bed and looked around his room, then peered at the window, "It's not only light out....it's way after daybreak. Usually I'm woken up at dawn or just before...what happened?" Hurriedly he dressed himself in his red outfit, then bolted out the door. "Shif?" he called as he entered the main living area; no one replied. "Shif?" he called again, looking in the different rooms, "Anna?" He peeked into the other bedroom -hoping neither was in there (last time he'd made that mistake he only caught a glimpse of Anna writing something at a desk...then he woke up lying on his back on the ground several minutes later with a very painful headache). He slowly looked around the corner, seeing that the other bedroom was empty as well, "Where are you guys?"

He felt a sudden chill in the air, an almost forboding feeling of something sinister waiting behind him. He turned, seeing only the doorway that was linked to the portal gate. He walked towards the door, as he'd done every day before...but something was different about it today. Normally the energy he felt from it was, well, like the taste of water, almost neutral. Today, though; the energy seemed to bekkon him, as a wolf might bekkon a sheep. He walked forward to the doorway, opening the door and stepping through.

As the purple energy flowed past him, rather than the forested mounntains he was used to seeing, it revealed an almost-serene hillside overlooking other small hills; and standing a few yards away, were the pruple-haired Shif and the blue-haired Anna. "Ah, there you guys are!" he waved as he walked towards them, his clothes flapping lightly in the strong breeze, "Sorry I'm late...I didn't know what time it was." Anna said nothing, she actually looked away a bit -as though something were troubling her; Schif nodded a bit, "Heya, squirt." Tianxia grimmaced -Shif had developed a liking for calling him that of late, despite not being much taller then Tianxia himself. Shif continued looking up at the sky. Tianxia was puzzled for a moment, before Shif spoke up, "They are interesting, aren't they?" Tianxia looked over in confusion, "What?" "The clouds," Shif replied, still looking up, "It's an almost surreal thing to look at when they are like this." Tianxia looked up to see what he was talking about; it was easy to spot. The clouds were incredibly low, looking almost as if a tall tree could scratch their base. Normally clouds on any given day seemed to move by slowly; these clouds, though, they raced by with surprising speed, their collection of shades of white grey and pruple made for a dazzling, almost hypnotic display. "It's as though it is trying to say something," Shif sdaid after another moment, "Clouds are often a personification of people's goals...to reach for the clouds or stars is to reach for a goal that seems impossible, because they are so far away. These clouds, though...they are close enough that it seems almost possible to reach them."

The wind picked up again, blowing hard against Tianxia and giving him a slight chill -and the ominous feeling came back once again. There was a strange humming buzz from behind him, Tianxia turned to see what it was. The sound seemed to come from the portal; whose normally pinkish violet energy had turned a deep, angry red -for some reason, he wanted to walk into it. "It's calling you, isn't it?" Anna said from beside him. Tianxia jumped -he hadn't seen or heard her move toward him, "Huh?" "The portal; it's calling you," she replied. He looked at her more closely, she seemed almost sad, "You mean that buzzing sound? You hear it too? What's it mean?" She looked away from him, staying silent. "It means, it's time for you to show us what you've learned," Shif answered from his other side, no longer looking at the clouds. Tianxia looked at him, incredibly confused, the buzzing sound in his head becoming more annoying, "I...what now?" "It's calling you, Tianxia. You should go," Anna said from her spot behind him. Tianxia looked back and forth between the two adventurers, quite uncertain about the situation; then began walking toward the portal -without really wanting to. "Tianxia," Shif called from behind him; he turned to look back. The fighter drew a short sword and sheath from his bag; he clipped the sheath to Tianxia's belt, then held the blade forward, "You might need this." Tianxia accepted the weapon, staring at it as he held it in his hand, "Thank you, Shif." Shif nodded, taking a step back; Tianxia turned back toward the gate, stopping to look at Anna again. She looked back at him with a sorrowful expression and whispered lightly -barely audible above the wind, "Be careful, young fighter." Tianxia nodded at her, and stepped into the gateway, the swirling red energy surrounding him.

He stepped out onto another grassy hillside, with only a few trees nearby. The sky was dark, filled with purple clouds. A light rain fell from the sky as the wind howled mightily in the air. A crimson bolt flashed across the sky, arcing from cloud to cloud, covering horizon to horizon in an instant; granting any viewer the benefit of a blinding flash followed by deafening roar of thunder, the shockwave of which shook the ground and was physically felt hitting his body. As the effect from the bright flash subsided, Tianxia found himself confronted by three enemies: a purple Slime, grinning in anticipaction, a small gray Mushroom, which was taking a few practise punches as it watched him, and a much larger red Fire Mushroom, which simpy stood glaring at Tianxia. Tianxia took a step back -or rather, he tried to, something was just, in the way. He looked behind him, seeing nothing but the hilltop, he could move his hand in front of it without problem, but he couldn't step any further than the gateway he'd come from. He looked at the gateway itself; the inside of it was empty; there was no mystical energy flowing through it -there was no going back to the saftey of the other hill. He turned again, facing the three enemies; which slowly began to move forward; spreading out as they readied to attack. Not knowing what other options there were; Tianxia reached down to his side and drew the blade that Shif had presented to him; spreading his feet and taking a guard stance.

The Slime and Mushroom attacked together. They both charged in -or hopped in, as Slime and Mushroom do; the Slime leapt forward, a charging attack aimed at Tianxia's chest. Tianxia spun and stepped to the side to avoid the attack; catching three fast punches to the ribs as he halted -the Mushroom had used the Slime's attack as a decoy. Tianxia leaned forward from the unexpected assault -then jolted back as the Mushroom landed another strong jab to his face. A light squeak caught his attention as he reeled and he dropped to the ground as the Slime flew overhead -narrowly missing in another attack meant to bear him to the ground. His eyes widened as the gray and white Mushroom hopped forward, raising a fist; Tianxia swept his blade around in a wide circle as he sat up, then leaned forward; slicing through the base of the monopod's stalk. Using the momentum from his spin; Tianxia rolled, pushed against the ground with his free hand and shot up behind the Mushroom, as a large mass of purple goo slammed into the ground where he'd been laying. Tianxia yelled as he brought his blade around again; intent on bisecting the wounded Mushroom before him; only to stagger over to the side as a very firm punch landed against the side of his face -the Fire Mushroom had joined in the fight.

Tianxia shook his head, regaining his composure as the three enemies spread out again; he looked at each of them, noting that the Slime to his right was closest, followed by the wounded Mushroom off to his left, then the Fire Mushroom in front of him -a triangle facing away from him, with the Fire Mushroom at the peak. The three enemies did not charge in this time; rather they simply closed in slowly -trying to box him in and give one of the enemies a shot at an unprotected area of his body as he fought the other two. Tianxia looked between the beasts; then charged the Fire Mushroom.

The red plant-beast was taken off-guard with the charge; it straightened for a moment as it saw the sword-wielding human rush forward. "Surely this person does not think he can kill me before one of the others can stop him," it thought. Its eyes widened a bit as another thought came to it, "What if he has a special attack that he has not shown? One that could defeat me in a single strike?" It hopped backwards as the human charged; surprised once again as he suddenly bolted to the side. It seemed to happen in slow motion: the fighter planted his right foot on the ground hard while running forward, bent his knee to stop the motion, then spun left and jumped forward and thrust out his sword -at the gray Mushroom that was moving to intercept what it thought was the human's attack. The sword pierced the side of the other Mushroom as the human came to a halt in a stretched out step -sword going in and out of the Mushroom; then the human rotated back, bringing the blade out the front and slaying the other Mushroom. "A faint?" was all the time the Fire Mushroom had to think before the human made his next move. The sword-wielder continued to spin, bringing his back foot around as he did; then bolted forward once more -this time at the Slime.

The Slime was not caught as unaware as the Mushroom, though; and saw the attack coming. Deciding that an offense was the best defense in its current situation, the Slime jumped at the fighter; who lay back and slid along the ground, raising his sword as the Slime soared above him. The blade sank into the beast, the heavy living goo's momentum sealing its fate as the blade passed through it; the Slime landing in two heaps behind the human. The Fire Mushroom stared in awe as the man got to his feet, turning around and pointing his sword at it. The Fire Musrhoom shook in anger at having been so easilly deceived by the human's ploy, "This...THING....it dies now!" It charged forward, the man meeting with his own charge. The red beast threw a punch; striking the man in his shoulder; the man rotated with the blow and sent out his sword -the Mushroom hopping back to avoid the slice at its stalk. Quickly the Mushroom hopped forward and sent a series of strong jabs at the human, knocking him backwards off-balance. "Now it dies!" the Mushroom thought, leaping forward and twisting to one side as it prepared a mighty blow -the man looking forward as he came out of his daze.

The Mushroom threw its punch, rotating its shoulder forward -an attack strong enough to crack stone; but the man reacted more swiftly than it had anticipated; ducking down beneath the attack. A sudden sharp pain filled its stomach, fading rapidly into a strange numbness, as the human's sword pierced its chest up to its hilt. The cold feeling of the steel quickly faded as well; then came another slight pain as the human pulled his sword free, taking a few steps back. The Mushroom, with a confused and amazed look, stared at the human in front of him, darkness slowly consuming what he saw. It struggled a moment; thinking about the suddeness of the human's move, "But....how?" The darnkess finished eating the world; and the Mushroom collapsed.

Orchids_Mantis

08-05-2009, 02:42 AM

Chapter 3: The Fighter's Awakening

Tianxia stood, shoulders visibly moving up and down as he panted, water pouring down his face from his rain-soaked hair; watching as the fatally-wounded Fire Mushroom stood staring at him, its hand in front of its wound. There was a distant rumble of thunder as they stood regarding each other; then the Fire Mushroom fell to the ground with a muffled thud, and lay still. Tianxia, heart still pounding, allowed himself a nervous chuckle at seeing the beast fall; and started taking longer, deeper breaths to calm himself down and recover from his fight. He spun around as he heard the sound of clapping come from behind him; his breath catching in his throat as a familiar man stood before him; a wicked grin on his face. "Well done, Tianxia," the man said in a sarcastic tone, "You just defeated some of the weakest monsters that infest this world -you're stronger than I thought." Tianxia forced himself to take a breath as he replied, "Somehow; I don't think I should be so surprised to find you here, Rei." "Well some person I don't know comes up to me and tells me you survived our last meeting, and had started training under a fighter." He folded his arms, "They told me that if I wanted the chance to finish you off; that I had to come here today," his hands spread out, "Naturally, I thought this guy was wasted on some foreign alcohol and talking out his rear; so I left the old fool where I found him -but low and behold as I pay attention to news trickling down the grapevine I find it to be true! Not only did you survive, but you were in training as a swordsman! So I figured, what the heck? If the old fart is right; I get to have the fun of killing you all over again...and if he's wrong..." He shrugged in a brief pause, "Well if he was wrong then I'd just hunt him down and give your second death to him as a first."

Tianxia raised his blade; Rei's grin grew wider, "So you've grown a backbone while you learned to fight, eh? Well I'll just cut that out of you as well." Rei reached to his side, drawing out a long dagger, "I won't miss your heart this time, Tianxia...I will gut you, and hold it out, showing it to you as you die!" Almost before the comment left his mouth, Rei dashed forward; slashing at Tianxia's left side. Tianxia moved to intercept the attack with his blade; and Rei swiftly darted to the other side, swinging low at Tianxia's leg. Tianxia leaned back and spun away, dodging the attack as Rei ran past him; Rei halted and turned to face the blue haired swordsman. Tianxia held his blade in front of him, "Hehehe, that was obvious, Rei. Did you really think you'd get me twice with the same move?" The murderer growled, sprinting forward again, Tianxia holding his ground and spreading his feet slightly. With a powerful overhead slash, Rei brought his blade down; Tianxia moved to block, but he lacked the pure strength to halt the attack, and Rei's dagger slammed into his shoulder -cutting through the red cloth and burying itself into his skin.

Tianxia swept out with his blade, Rei jumped back -blade sliding across Tianxia's shoulder as he did, deepening the wound. Not halting to make a comment, Rei spun around, ducked low and sliced at Tianxia's lower leg. The blue haired man jumped to avoid the strike, falling to the ground as Rei swept out his leg while Tianxia landed. Rei switched his grip and brought his blade up, yelling as he brought it downward to stab Tianxia through the chest again; Tianxia quickly rolled backwards and pushed up, lashing out with both feet. His atatck caught Rei in the face, knocking him backwards off-balance as Tianxia stood. Tianxia wiped the rain from his face, ignoring the throbbing pain in his left shoulder; and attacked again. Metal sang as the blades clashed against each other, Rei blocking the attack and pushing Tianxia backwards. "You've gotten a lot better, Tianxia," Rei grinned as he forced Tianxia back another step. "I'm glad you noticed," he grinned back. Rei frowned, "You're still going to die, though. You cannot defeat me, you weak little insect!" Tianxia strained, pushing against Rei's blade with his own, but was unable to match his strength. rei chuckled at seeing Tianxia's efforts go to waste, "You see? You are no match for me." Tianxia grinned momentarilly, then twisted his blade arm back and free shoulder forward, landing a strong backhand punch to Rei's nose -the killer fell back with a startled shout.

Tianxia took the offensive again, and again Rei caught the attack with his own blade. Tianxia pegan to push against his opponent, but met no resistance. He stunbled forward as Rei allowed his blade to move in, then he switched and swiftly pushed back out, knocking Tianxia backwards. Tianxia staggered, his arms spreading to keep balance as Rei darted in, and struck hard at his sword, knocking it free of his grip; then gave a shoulder charge to knock the stumbling Tianxia down. "Ha!" Rei gloated as he stepped past Tianxia's blade, "You cannot match my strength!" Tianxia got to his feet and faced Rei, arms up in a defensive pose; Rei sneered, "What? You intend to fight me still? You are more of a fool than I thought." Rei bolted in, slicing at one of Tianxia's forearms; Tianxia shouted as the cold steel slid along his arm, splitting the skin. Rei reversed his direction, spun and gave a strong kick to Tianxia's chest, knocking him down; Tianxia rolling down the wet hillside. "Damn it," Tianxia groaned as he lay on the wet grass, "How can I beat him without a sword?" "You are weak, Tianxia!" Rei shouted as he walked down the hill toward him, "You always have been; and without a weapon; you can't even block my attacks!" Tianxia grit his teeth and made fist, the grass from the hill pulling free as he did so. Tianxia's eyes widened, and he grinned to himself as he heard Rei continuing to move toward him, still taunting; a memory of his more recent training with Shif coming to his mind.

They continued to walk through the forest, a white mist completely shrouding everything more than a few feet away. Another large silhouette appeared; Tianxia moved to one side as the tree broke through the mist as they moved past. "How much longer until we get there?" Tianxia asked the silent fighter -again, "And what exactly is it you're teaching me today? How to walk uphill again?" This time the fighter replied, "We're just about there; and don't worry, when we arrive you'll see what today's lesson is." Tianxia grew puzzled at his comment, and slightly worried -whenever Shif went cryptic like that, it usually meant something very dangerous for Tianxia. They continued their hike through the Forest of Mist; a large forest filled with "islands" that were surrounded not by water, but by deep canyons. These days the origins of the mist-filled gorges were slowly being forgotten, many thinking that they were carved out by ancient rivers that had since dried up, but in actuality, relatively little was the result of such natural forces. The carvings in this place were scars, marks left on the land from the ancient battle between Legel and Teva -such was their enormous power that in their fighting, blows and magic strikes that had missed or been deflected were able to carve out deep gouges within the very earth. "Ah, we're here," Shif said after a moment. He ducked behind a tree and looked at Tianxia with a grin, "Good luck." Tianxia's face grew quizzical as he looked at Shif in confusion. Something hissed nearby, and a creature suddenly burst into view. It was large, covered in matty, blueish gray fur, with a long white snout, sharp claws and very strong teeth that could chew through almost anything.

Tianxia yelled and drew his dagger, stepping back as the Ratman swiped at him with its long claws. Tianxia struck back, but the Ratman easilly dodged the attack, biting at the hand carrying his blade. The beast swung both claws at Tianxia -who only dodged by a narrow margin, then lunged forward biting at Tianxia once again. Tianxia rotated to avoid the bite, only to slam back first into a tree as the powerful Ratman slammed a paw into his chest. "Shif!" he called as the Ratman's assault continued, "Help! I can't fight this thing; it's too strong!" Shif shook his head and ran forward, moving Tianxia out of the Ratman's path and sweeping him behind another tree several meters away. Tianxia looked around, the mist again covering everything; but he heard the ominous sniffing of the Ratman searching for its prey's scent -something the mist would not cover up. The sniffing grew louder as Shif looked at his apprentice, grabbing some moss from the tree's trunk, "Tianxia; fighting is not about strength. If you try to match strength for strength, then eventually you will come up against someone stronger than you and lose." Tianxia's eyes widened, the sniffing had stopped; the forest was dead quiet except for Shif's voice, "Fighting is also about technique, the carrying of momentum -and especially misdirection and surprise."

Once more the Ratman burst from the mist, hissing and growling as it snapped its jaws at Tianxia, claws swiping at Shif -who had stolen its meal. Again Shif moved away, pushing Tianxia out of the Ratman's attack. Shif looked over at Tianxia with a grin as the Ratman closed in on him; it leaned forward to bite, Shif ducked low, spun and kicked it in the back, sending it hissing away from him, "Carrying of momentum..." The Ratman turned with a hissing growl and ran forward; Shif tossed the moss he held in his hand over the Ratman's head, "Misdirection..." For a brief moment, the Ratman's eyes left the fighters, head tilting back to see what Shif had thrown; the fighter then charged in, driving his sword through the beast's chest, "And surprise!" Tianxia's eyes widened in amazement as the Ratman fell to the ground, Shif turning to grin at him again; "Strength is only a part of fighting, Tianxia. Learn to use the other factors of combat; and you will be able to defeat enemies much stronger than you." The fighter chuckled lightly as he sheathed his sword and began walking back toward the entrance to the forest, "That concludes the first part of today's lessons."

Orchids_Mantis

08-11-2009, 10:51 PM

Chapter 3: The Fighter's Awakening

Tianxia got to his feet; keeping the clump of grass and dirt that had come loose in his fist, and turned to face his opponent again. "Still determined to fight, huh?" Rei chuckled as he walked closer. "There's a difference between you and I, Rei," Tianxia said with a grin. "There's many differences between us," Rei grinned back, "You're a weakling who's about to die and I'm not. That one is the one that should be concerning you most right now." "I may be weaker compared to you; but I am stronger than I used to be," Tianxia replied. Rei raised his dagger, "Fat lotta good that's gonna do you." Tianxia nodded, "I may be weaker, Rei...but you are an idiot." Rei sneered as Tianxia continued, a maddening grin appearing on his face, "The difference I spoke of is that I can train and become stronger....and you...will always be the same moron I've known since childhood."

With a furious shout, Rei ran forward, swinging his arm out for a powerful attack; Tianxia grinned, and threw the clump of grass and dirt into Rei's face; Rei shut his eyes and jerked his head back as the dirt splattered across his face, reaching up with his free hand to wipe it from his eyes. Tianxia moved forward, ducking low and raising an elbow up, slamming it into Rei's lower abdomen. Rei lurched forward, both arms coming forward and wind flying out from his lungs as he ground to a halt aganst the strong bone. Tianxia quickly rose and spun, catching Rei by the weapon-arm, twisting around and leaning forward; flipping the momentarilly stunned Rei over him onto his back. Tianxia fell with Rei, twisting left, so as he landed his left elbow again impacted Rei's stomach -while at the same time his right arm forced Rei's arm to bend the wrong way over Tianxia's ribs. There was an audible crack as Rei's elbow shattered, the weapon falling from his grip. Rei opened his mouth and eyes wide, but had no breath to yell as the pain shot through him. Tianxia released his grip on Rei's broken arm and rolled to the side, picking up the fallen dagger and rising to his feet a little more than a meter away. Rei caught his breath and looked up in fury at Tianxia, who scowled down at him in return. "Last time you pinned me to a tree using this," he said looking at the dagger, then he looked down at Rei again, "Perhaps I should return the favor and pin you to the ground." Rei grinned slightly, "I think not. You may have surprised me this time; but you will not defeat me here." Tianxia turned his head slightly to the side, "I think I already have." "Not while I breathe, boy..not while I still breathe," Rei grinned larger as he pulled out something green from a pocket with his left hand -a teleportation scroll. Tianxia's eyes widened and he dashed forward, bringing the dagger down -only to stab the rain-covered grass that had been beneath Rei as he vanished from sight.

Tianxia stayed crouching down for a moment; glaring at the dagger his hand held buried in the ground before him. The uncaring rain continued to fall, water dripping from his face and hair, distant thunder rumbling. "Right there," he whispered, "He was right there...and I couldn't finish him...dammit." He pulled the small blade free from the earth and straightened; walking back up to the top of the hill as he shook his head. As he reached the top of the hill, he saw the portal was working again; he started for it, then remembered his sword was on the ground somewhere nearby. After a quick search he found the muddy weapon lying in the grass and he reached down to pick it up. he held the dagger and his short sword in front of himself; then threw Rei's dagger back down the hillside, wiped the mud from his steel blade, and sheathed it. He turned back toward the portal, but as he walked the thunder and wind both stopped, and he had the sudden feeling of a presence behind him.

He halted and turned, seeing a familiar figure standing under the tree that he had been pinned to after his last fight against Rei. The girl wore white, and though everywhere around her was soaked with rain, she herself was completely untouched by the water. The shade of the tree hid her face from him; but he kne that he'd seen her before -he just didn't know where. "You have done well, Tianxia," she said to him, "You have passed your final test." "Test?" he repeated, "Test for what?" "You will know soon," came her reply, "Now it is time for you to begin your new journey." Tianxia made a face, "Journey? What journey? What the heck are you talking about? Who are you?" The wind began to pick up, the girl's clothes unaffected, but Tianxia's red outfit beginning to flap as the wind grew more and more furious. A bright bolt of lightning flashed across the sky, striking the gateway portal behind him and destroying it; the loud clap of thunder that followed shook the very ground itself. "You made your decision, Tianxia," though she spoke softly her voice cut clearly through the howling wind and rumbling thunder. Tianxia held his hand in front of him to try to block the wind, leaning forward so as not to be blown back by its power. "Two years have passed," the girl said calmly. Tianxia's eyes opened wide, "That's HER!" "Three still remain," she finished as he stared in disbelief. She continued to look at him as she spoke, "What you experienced before was only meant to lead you here. This is where the path truly begins. I wish luck to Isya's latest fighter." Without warning, lightning slammed into the ground immediately in front of him. The bright flash blinded him, the bolt's energy slamming into him and driving him backwards to the ground. The wind faded, the bright afterglow of the lightning did likewise; and he was left in a deep, silent darkness.

Orchids_Mantis

08-18-2009, 09:55 PM

Chapter 4: The World of the Adventurers

The sound of waves crashing against the shore broke through the dark silence. Gradually they grew louder; and he became aware that as he heard the sounds, something cold would rush against his body. "Hey! Hey there!" a voice called, "Hey...are you alive?" He felt something cool run through him, a serene wind that seemed to flow through his entire body; groggily, he lifted his head -he'd been lying on his stomach, it appeared- and looked around. "Oh good, you're alive," said the voice. He pushed himself up a bit, his hands sinking into the soft sand, and looked behind him; seeing a young man -about his own age- dressed all in blue standing behind him. "I'm so glad," the cleric smiled, "For a moment, I thought I'd found a dead body on the beach." "Beach?" he thought to himself, "I'm...at a beach?" he looked around again; the area was covered in sand that ran up to the water -where he'd been laying- the area was littered with clams, starfish, fishing boats and strange spiked shells. He looked back at the cleric, still looking at him and smiling, "What did you fight?" He blinked a few times, "Huh?" "You know," the cleric answered, "The thing that beat you...what was it? Usually fighters have a hard time losing here."

"Fighters?" he repeated softly. His right hand hit something cold and metal in the sand; he looked down at it -it was the hilt of a steel shortsword. He reached forward and grabbed the blade, which had a familiar feel to it, rising to his knees to sit. He looked around again, head still fuzzy, "Where...where is this place?" "You get hit in the head or something?" the cleric responded, "You're on the beach in the Forest of Tides, the hunting area near Rumen." He looked away for a moment, the name Rumen rang a bell in his head. He looked up at the cleric again, "Who are you?" "The name's Marcus," he smiled, "I'm a beginner cleric. What's your name?" "My name," the man repeated, trying to think. There was a name...but it was...too far away...his head too light to focus on it. He looked back up at the cleric with a tired and confused expression. "Dang," Marcus replied, "Whatever you fought did a number on you, huh? Come on; let's get you to town...maybe Julia can help you out a bit -she's Rumen's town healer."

"Hm...doesn't seem too bad," the long-haired girl said as she examined him. "So he'll be okay, then?" Marcus asked from behind her. She nodded, "The effect should only be temporary -it's primarilly shock from the power of whatever hit you." "Ah, good," he smiled, "Well I guess I'll leave him with you, then -I have to get back to my quest or my employer might get upset." She smiled at him and nodded; the cleric waved at both of the people there and ran off down the cobblestone street of Rumen. Julia straightened up and smiled, "Heehee, another fighter biting off more than he can chew -especially at your level...you definitely seem to have a head start on the fighter mentality for a beginner." "Thanks...I think," he replied to the blue-haired healer. "Well, aside from the memory loss, I can't find a problem," she smiled, "So I can't really see a reason to keep you here." Julia thought for a moment, "Hmm...you look like you started recently..you probably only registered with Remi a short while ago..you could probably talk to her -she might remember your name." "Remi?" the man repeated, trying to see if he remembered her -he didn't. Julia pointed down the road, "Remi is in charge of registering all the new adventurers in Isya. She is usually right down those stairs there. You can't miss her, she's the pretty one with the long red hair." "I see," he said as he stood, "Okay. Thank you, Miss Julia." She giggled again, "Just Julia..."'Miss' makes me sound old." The man looked down slightly, "Ah, I see. Sorry. Thank you, Julia." She smiled back at him, "Hehe, no problem. Now go, you adventurers always have things to do."

He walked down the stone roadway, making his way down a long staircase to Rumen's lower side. As soon as he stepped off the staircase he saw her; a woman with long orange-red hair standing on a small platform near the edge of Rumen's harbor wall. "Excuse me," he called, the girl looked over at him, "Are you Remi?" "Yes, I am," she replied, "And who might you be?" He blinked a few moments, then looked down, "Actually...I was kind of hoping you could tell me. I can't seem to remember much right now -ever since a cleric woke me up in the Foretst of Tides." She lifted a hand to her mouth, "Oh dear...have you been to see Julia?" He nodded, "Yes...she says it is temporary...I was just hoping you might remember me." She looked at him a moment, then opened a large book that was tied to her waist with a decorative ribbon. "Let's see," she said as she flipped through the pages, "Not you....not you...definitely not you...nope, I remember him....not a fighter....not a fighter...not you...he had purple hair....not a fighter...not a male..." She looked up after a minute or so, "That's odd...I can't find a name for a fighter with a description that matches you that has registered anytime recently. You...aren't a registered adventurer."

He gave her a semi-blank stare, "What's that mean?" She tilted her head as she raised her eyebrows, "Well, for starters, it means I have no way of knowing who you are. Next it means that you aren't a fully recognized adventurer yet. Finaly, it means you don't have any of the items an adventurer needs to carry with them -since I give those out upon registration." " I see," he replied -still not entirely sure what was wrong with all that, "Well...thank you." He turned to walk away, "Wait! hang on a second!" she called after him. He turned back toward her, "Yes?" She smiled at him, "That doesn't mean we can't register you now. I will write down your description and class; and when you can remember, come tell me and I will write down the name of Isya's latest fighter." "Isya's latest fighter," the words echoed in his mind for some reason. His gaze grew distant and he stared to one side as the words continued echoing. The fog in part of his mind cleared, and two words answered the echoing call, "Li Tianxia." "Is that my name?" he wondered as he stared off into the distance. "Isya's latest fighter....Li Tianxia," the words answered in his head. He suddenly became aware that Remi was calling to him, "Hey..HEY!" she called while waving at him, "You alright? You kind of spaced out there." He still looked to the side, "I remembered something." She straightened, "Oh?" He looked up at her, "My name...it's Li Tianxia."

Smiling, Remi opened her book again and scribbled down his name, "Very well then. Welcome to the ranks of the adventurers, Li Tianxia." She put her book down, "I am Remi, as Julia told you; I am in charge of registering all new adventurers that come to Isya, and informing them of the basics and giving a few needed supplies for their on their journey." She reached into a bag behind her, pulling out a few papers, then handing them to him. Tianxia looked at the papers, "Huh? Paper? What's all this for...some kind of test?" "No no," she smiled as she shook her head, "Those are more important than you think...trust me. The top paper is enchanted with a special magic to show location. It can show your position and the layout of any area in all Isya, even if you've never been there before -unlike some other maps that only show you places you've already gone." As she spoke the paper began to fill out with shapes and color, giving a near-perfect scale map of the city. "The blue triangle is you," Remi said as he looked at the map wide-eyed, "If any merchants, guards or chiefs are registered for the area, they show up as well. Smiths show up as a picture of a hammer for forging weapons, storage keepers show up as a picture of a key..." Tianxia looked at her, "It shows a giant question mark for you." She looked away, half-closing her eyes, "Yeah...I know. I guess it makes sense, though; I do answer a lot of questions." She looked back, resuming her cheerful appearance, "Anyways, the next paper holds a picture of a mushroom. That will be your house." Tianxia flipped through all the papers and found the afore-mentioned picture. "'Okay..." he said slowly as he looked at it, "How do I make this work?" Remi frowned slightly, lookng from side to side, "You believe me? You're...not going to tell me I'm crazy or something?"He looked back at her in confusion, "No...you're telling me stuff I need to know...Why shouldn't I believe you?" Remi stammered for a second, "Well..umm...erm..You just hold the picture out and sort of...concentrate on the mushroom, and either any fatigue you feel or wounds you have...then the house appears. To get it to go away, you just, think about being outside." "Oh," Tianxia smiled at the picture, "Cool!" He tilted his head as he looked back up at her -she seemed to be a bit disappointed for some reason. Remi shook her head slightly, her hair flipping out as she did so, "Ah...well that's about all I am supposed to show you. For the rest, you should go see Julia again." "Oh, I see," Tianxia said with a smile, "Okay. Thank you, Remi." She sighed as she watched him depart,"Darn...I was looking forward to the usual way of showing how mushroom houses work." "Excuse me," a nervous voice from her side called. She turned to see another person there, bow in hand, "Yes?" "I asked around about registering as an archer...I was told to come see you." She smiled as he finished speaking, "Yes; of course. Tell me the name you wish to go by so I can register you; then I can begin showing you some basics."

Orchids_Mantis

08-23-2009, 06:41 PM

Chapter 4: The World of the Adventurers

Tanxia sat in his mushroom house, reaching into his old -at least he presumed it old- bag and taking out items one at a time, placing them in the new, smaller -yet still more spacious- bag which he had received whie talking to Julia. The mushroom house paper and the map paper had already been placed in their respactive compartments, enabling the house to be called without holding the paper, and the map to be seen without taking it out from its pocket. He reached into his bag and withdrew another apple, which he placed next to the other six he'd already found, "I must have liked apples a lot," he muttered as he found yet another apple, "they seem to be the only thing I took with me." He furrowed his eyebrows as he felt something different in the bag. he pulled his hand out, finding it to be a small book, a bit worn from time and weather. "What's this?" he asked himself as he sat back against a wall. He opened the book, it was the journal he'd kept since the day he woke up after Rei had attacked him. He had kept an almost daily account since then, from Anna's insane task, to Shif's teachings.

He began to read, "My name is Li Tianxia. This is not the first time I have tried to make a journal -in fact I have lost count of how many I have started..." "I made a journal?" he thought as he read on, "but hopefully I will have the willpower I need to make it the last journal I ever begin. I am twenty-one years old and live wherever my work takes me. I am a courier by trade, so while I do not live the glamorous life of a swordsman -which I guess any guy my age secretly wishes to have; I still see more of Isya than most normal working people, and experience some things of interest. This being the case I figured I would keep a log of those strange, funny, sometimes weird and interesting things that I do experience; if only so on some nights when I am older I have something to reflect on."

He began reading the stories that he had written down -tales from minstrels, descriptions of his mother, his home, the children he'd grown up with. As he read, memories flowed back to him, some like vivid paintings, others as though he were watching the event unfold right before him. He stopped reading as he recalled more. Memories of Rei's attack on him shot into his mind, a stabbing pain shot through his chest where the dagger had been buried. Flashbacks of his time training with Shif came, his odd yet useful lessons shouting in his mind. Suddenly came a distant memory -much fainter and less detailed than the others. It was of a battle against four opponents...but he couldn't remember much about it beyond there being four enemies which he faced. He flipped through the journal, but couldn't seem to find anything about it. He shook his head a bit, then a line caught his eye. He didn't know why, but this line just called him -as though shouting in a foreign tongue, ""Two years have already passed; three yet remain." These words continue to echo in my mind, despite my best efforts. I try to forget them, after all, they are just words I hear sometimes in my sleep, right? Sometimes I feel it's as though these words are trying to convince me they are significant to my future...but what could they mean?"

He closed the book as he sat back, still processing everything he'd suddenly remembered: His family, his last few years of work as a courier, Rei, Anna's quest, Shif's training..."Shif! Anna!" he nearly shouted as he bolted to his feet. He growled and cringed as his head struck the ceiling of the mushroom house's small first floor, the journal falling to the ground. He reached down and picked up the book with one hand, rubbing his head with the other. "Crud, I broke it already," he said as he saw another page laying on the ground still. He reached down and picked it up, opening the journal to see where the page had come from. He stopped as he noticed the writing on the page was not his, and the paper was not torn, but simply a small leaflet that had been placed inside the notebook. He placed the paper on the journal's cover, holding it in both hands as he read.

"Heya, squirt,
If you're reading this, then you survived your fight. I know that you have many questions -including now some of what your fight was- unfortunately, I can't tell you. If you're reading this then that also means my work is done; you completed your test, earned the right to your sword and outfit; awakening -probably more literally than some others- as a fighter. Do not search for me or Anna. If you train hard enough, we may perhaps meet again in the future; but for now concantrate on learning all you can about your new world. This is the start of your journey -one as an adventurer- you only get one start, so make it a good start. I have every faith and confidence that you will use what I taught you well; and will become a strong fighter. Just remember: there's more to being an adventurer than just fighting; and there's more to being powerful in combat than just being strong. I'd say sorry for being so hard on you; but the path you are on will only get tougher -had I gone easy on you, you would not be prepared for it -and would probably have died before reaching this point. Good luck in this new world, Tianxia, the world of the adventurers.

Fare well, Li Tianxia; may your sword swing true and straight, protecting your friends and defeating your foes until you decide hang it up,

Shif "

He set the book down, mindlessly opening the journal and closing it around the letter so that the note would not be lost. He sat back and drew in a deep breath; already missing Shif -and even Anna, with her snide comments and sarcastic remarks. He shook his head as he put the book away...despite hating the training, despite being angry at Anna's put-downs or Shif's regiment of 4-hours-of-sleep per night, despite everything he had complained about for the last few months...he was going to miss them.

Orchids_Mantis

08-23-2009, 06:53 PM

Chapter 5: Simple Ideas Not so Simple

The fighter rotated to the side and leaned back, dodging the acidic spit from the Prock Zone in front of him. The sentient plant decided to use the opportunity to gain some distance from the sword-wielding human and turned, hopping away, but the human was too fast. With four long, powerful strides, the fighter passed the fleeing plant-beast, halted and spun in a twohundred seventy degree circle toward the beast, sword neatly passing through the Prock Zone's thin stalk. The fighter straightened, chuckling to himself as the plant fell, "This is starting to get too easy." He roared in pain as dozens of sharp objects embedded themselves in his shoulder, two strong hands grabbing hold of his upper arms, trying to hold him in place. He turned his head to see a green humanoid reptile biting at his shoulder -a Little Lizzardman had snuck up behind him as he finished his last fight. Sneering, face twisted in pain and rage, Tianxia tried to break free of the reptilian beast's grasp, but to no avail. The lizzardman's lock held and it continued chewing at his shoulder and upper arm. He turned his head away from the beast, then brought it back around, nearly knocking himself senseless as his head impacted the lizzardman's thick skull -the Little Lizzardman showing much less effect from the headbutt than the human. "Get off of me, you oversized gecko!" he shouted as he continued to struggle. The comment did not go unnoticed, the beast's eyes narrowed and its jaws clamped tighter around his shoulder. Tianxia grit his teeth and shook from side to side, unable to break the beast's grip on his arms to free his sword for a strike at its head. He stopped for a brief moment as he noticed that his shortsword, while not able to get a good strike at the beast's head; was able to reach across his body -to the lizzardman's left hand.

He grimmaced again as the lizzardman bit down on his shoulder once more, the long teeth penetrating his armor and skin, but unable to tear any of it free, thankfully. He rotated his wrist so the sword ran across his body, setting the blade along the lizzardman's clawed hand, then gave a brief tug with his wrist, sliding the blade back, allowing the steel to slice through the skin on the lizzardman's finger. The hand he attacked released him and pulled back, the jaws coming free from his shoulder as the beast hissed in pain -an opportunity Tianxia did not waste. He quickly spun to the outside of the beast, breaking its remaining hand's lock, and grabbed a soul stone from his bag, using a charge to heal the deep wounds in his shoulder. The green reptile hissed again, eyes norrowing as it charged toward Tianxia. The beast swung across with a claw, an attack Tianxia easily dodged by stepping back, only to be knocked to the ground as the beast continued spinning, whipping its tail around into the fighter's torso. The blue haired fighter quickly got to his feet, and swung his sword at the charging beast; leaving a shallow slice across its midriff. He jumped back as the lizzardman swung its claws at him again; but failed to dodge both attacks, as one set of claws raked across his chest, tearing through the leather armor he wore and slicing skin. Lunging quickly, the Little Lizzardman stuck its neck out and clamped its teeth down on Tianxia's shoulder once again, again trying to lock Tianxia's arms by grabbing onto his bicepts. The lizzardman shook its head from side to side, tearing at Tianxia's shoulder, then suddenly went still, eyes open wide.

"Wrong side to do that from," Tianxia said as he reached into his bag, using another soul stone charge to heal most of the wounds. He looked at the top of the beast's head, which had suddenly sprouted a relatively long steel horn; he followed the line the horn made down, beneath the beast's neck, seeing the hilt of his sword pressing against its skin. Tianxia shook his head, "I couldn't attack you last time because you were behind me and my movement was restricted by your lock. This time, though, you were in front, being able to move my arm up and down was all I needed." He yanked his arm down, the metal horn on the beast's head disappearing as the sword pulled free; though the beast's body remained unmoving, lock from its hands and jaws unweakening. He stepped back, the lizzardman's body sagged to the ground as it no longer had Tianxia's body supporting it. The claws slipped free; but the jaws remained clamped tight around his shoulder -this beast's muscles were used to open its mouth, not close it, so in death, its jaws closed tightly shut. Tianxia sighed slightly, and sook his head, "Great." He sheathed his sword and grabbed the top and bottom of the beast's jaws, straining to force them open. "You lost...you're dead," he growled as he pushed as hard as he could against the strong bone, "So would you mind...terribly...letting...GO of me now?" His arms gave out, the jaws remaining unmoved as he glared at the dead beast, "Wonderful...well I suppose I could cut the head off and say it's a decoration." He raised an eyebrow at his last comment, unsheathing his sword, "Or.." He placed the sword in the beast's mouth, then pulled down and back, shearing off the lower jaw. He sheathed his sword again and pulled off the lower jaw, dropping it to the ground, "I could just do that," he finished as he pulled the lizzardman's body and top jaw free.

He reached into his bag, grabbing the health soul stone again to heal the last of his wounds, only to frown upon discovering that his stone was out of charges. "Wow," he said as he looked at the gray rock in his hands, "Thirty charges used up already? I've been busy today." He placed the stone back in his bag and shrugged, "Well...I guess I should go back to town to recharge it." He started to walk away, then looked up, "Oops...wait a tick!" He ran back to the lizzardman's body and lifted its left arm, "Nothing...dang." He lifted the right arm, grinning at seeing the skin a strange bluish gray -instead of the white-gray that covered the rest of its stomack and underside. He sliced off as much of the off-color patch as he could, and placed it in his bag. "This may be low quality, but Summoned Beast Leather is always worth a bit of change to the right person," he smiled, "Probably enough to afford me a full stone recharge in and of itself."

He sauntered off, walking through the tall grass of the Sea of Greed's interior area as he headed back toward Rumen -Elderine was the cler of the two towns, but he preferred Rumen's small-town feel whenever possible. It had been several weeks since the day he woke up on the beach in the Forest of Tides; and he had advanced quite a bit in power and skill -though he was still considered a low rank. He looked at the small sword in his hand, shaking his head. He had technically oputgrown the shortsword a while ago, graduating to the longer, more deadly Broadsword; but he had been foolish and lost it two days ago.

He had been walking down the main street of Elderine, prideful in the new bluish green glow his blade possessed after successfully refining it to the third level. Though since "plus three" items were commonplace -for weapons and shields, he gained no greater attention from it -for the most part. "Hey, you," came a voice from his side. He turned to see a mage of similar level running up to him. "Yes?" he said the the unknown mage. "That's a very nice looking sword," the mage said. "Thanks," Tianxia grinned, "Just got it to plus three a short while ago." "Plus three huh? Not bad, not bad," the mage said, rubbing his chin slightly as he looked at the weapon. The mage looked up at him, "Listen, I am a stone maker; I make the Elrue Lix and Xir for refining items," He reached into his bag and produced a bunch of small low-grade Lix. "Uh-huh," Tianxia nodded, not sure where this was going. "Well I make a bunch of these stones, but no one has been buying these last few days and I'm running low on money." "I'm not interested in buying stones, sorry," Tianxia said with a dismissive wave. The mage held up a hand, "Nonononono. What I'm offering is to refine your weapon FOR you, I'll use all the stones I made and can't sell. In return, you pay me for each level you want the item to go up; rather than paying for each stone I would use." "Thanks," Tianxia said back, "But I don't think I want to risk my blade just yet." "No risk, no risk!" the mage quickly replied, "I can guarantee that your blade will survive to any level of enhancement you want -provided you have the cash for it."

Tianxia's eyes widened as he heard the mage speak, "Really? Any level of refinement?" "Yes," the mage smiled back, "Look I'm out of cash since no one is buying my stones, I figured this would be a better way to make money." Tianxia thought for a moment, then frowned, "Ah, It sounds nice...but I only have sixty silver on me." "No problem!" the mage grinned, "That will get you from plus three to plus six." Tianxia looked back at the mage, "Really?" The mage nodded, "Yeah." "Wow, cool," Tianxia smiled, "That sounds great!" "So you'll do it?" the mage asked. He nodded back at the mage, "Yeah, sure...why not?" The mage jumped up and down, "Great! This means I won't go broke! Thank you! Just give me the sword...good..now the money for the service...actually, just fifty for now; give me the other ten when 'I'm done." Tianxia handed over the sword and the first part of the payment (only paying part of it made him more relaxed). The mage looked up at Tianxia with a strange grin, and pulled a teleportation scroll from his bag, "Later, loser!" Tianxia's mouth dropped as the mage vanished, along with his weapon and silver. Dejectedly, Tianxia spent the remainder of his money on a new skill, a soul stone recharge, some supplies, and the only weapon he could afford: a low-level steel shortsword.

"That, Tianxia, was a scammer," the town smith had told him as he repurchased his weapon, "They pull stuff like that on newcommers, people who are trusting, perhaps naiive; you know." Tianxia looked at the large man, with a confused expression, "I don't understand. why would they do that?" The smith shrugged, "They just want the money and items so they can get that much farther ahead. Sorry to disillusion you, but Rumen, Elderine, Uruga...they have the same problems as any other town or village...and then some" Tianxia shook his head, "But the purpose of being an adventurer is to help people, isn't it? I mean yes, the traveling, the fighting, the people you meet, that's fun too...but the most basic purpose behind being an adventurer is supposed to be to help." The smith shook his head, "Some people are only interested in helping themselves; at trying to be what they perceive to be 'great'. Just because you give someone a weapon, or sword, or the ability to use magic, doesn't mean they will use it for its intended purpose; most will use it only to achieve their own goals, regardless of who they need to hurt to do so."

His musings finished for the moment, he wandered up to the Templer, a young woman trained in mystic arts who would teleport adventurers between Rumen and the Sea of Greed. "Heading back again?" she smiled as he approached. "Yes, please," he replied, "I need to restone." "Already?" she chuckled, "You burn through those stones as though they were water. Perhaps you should take it a bit easier." Tianxia chuckled and smiled, "Perhaps...then again, why change it now?" The Templer girl nodded, laughing lightly, then said a quick incantation. A bright yellow light engulfed Tianxia, and as it faded, he saw the boats, sand dunes and beaches that comprised the Sea of Greed had been replaced by a large village full of houses, buildings and lined with cobblestone roads.

Orchids_Mantis

08-26-2009, 01:07 AM

Chapter 5: Simple Ideas, Not so Simple

He walked up the long pier that extended from Rumen's seaside square to its lighthouse, making his way toward the fountain at the center of the square. "Hey you!" he turned as he saw a fighter of similar level to his own calling to an obviously less experienced archer. The archer had turned to look back, "Huh?" "You know about mining for copper and silver right?" the fighter asked; Tianxia smiled -it was nice to see someone who appeared to be wanting to help out for once. The archer nodded, the fighter smiled, "Ah, and you know about the different grades of quality in these items, and that you can sell these items to adventurers for good money, right?" The archer nodded again, "Yeah." "Well I found this," the fighter said as he reached into his bag, pulling out several large lumps of copper, the archer's eyes widened at the sight of these large pieces of copper. "They are pure copper," the fighter grinned, "No refining needed from the smith. I was gonna sell them in a vendor, but I don't feel like watching a store right now. So I'll tell you what: I'll sell all four of them to you for only six hundred coppers each; and you can sell them in a shop of your own later."

The archer's eyes went even wider, Tianxia's narrowed, "Six hundred coppers?" he thought, "They are only worth two hundred fifty -and players can't make anything with them using alchemy, only merchants find value in them." He looked around at all the people within earshot, none of them seemed to give the slightest care of the fighter trying to cheat the archer. "Why doesn't anyone do something?" he wondered, "Why do they all just sit there and pretend it's not happening?" "Well, what do you say?" the fighter said to the archer. He smiled and reached into his bag, "Sure thing!" The archer held out a sum of money -nearly two and a half silver- handing it over to the fighter. "Hold on!" Tianxia said stepping forward, "You shouldn't do that." The archer looked over at him in confusion, "What? Why not?" "Because it's a trick," Tianxia replied, "First of all, the only ones who value copper lumps are merchants that use it as currency. Second, they are only worth two hundred fifty copper, he's charging you over twice their value in the hopes that you will fall for it." "Don't listen to him," the other fighter answered, "He's trying to get you to go away so that he can buy them himself; he does it all the time, he's a horrible scammer. He chases away people with talks of scams so that he can buy things he wants cheap." "What!?" Tianxia turned to face him, "You try to take advantage of less experienced players and you claim ME to be the scammer for trying to stop you!?" The other fighter shrugged and gave a half-concerned look, "Look, I'm not gonna sell them to you -ever. How many times do I have to tell you that? You can drive all my customers away with your scam shouts and I still won't sell to you!" He turned to the archer, "Do you want them or not?" The archer looked at Tianxia with an angry glare, handing the other fighter the money, "Jerk." The archer walked away, the other fighter turned to face him, "Hehehe, nice try. Perhaps next time you will do better." With that the other fighter left, leaving Tianxia standing in the midst of a crowd of people that completely ignored everything that had just occurred.

He shook his head and walked up the road, wondering why it was so easy for people to believe a liar, and so hard for them to believe someone warning them about a liar. "WHAT!?" came a loud shout from the side, he turned to look, noticing the archer he'd seen buying the copper lumps moments ago was talking to Rumen's item merchant, Pey, "What do you mean they aren't worth more than two hundred fifty copper!? I bought them for six hundred each!" The elfen merhcant shook her head at the archer, "Look I don't care how much you paid for them...I'm not buying them for more than two hundred fifty copper. That's their value, that's what I pay for them." The archer was speechless for a moment, simply stammering as he gawked, "But...but he said they were worth more than I paid for them." "I'm sorry, but whoever sold you those lied to you -they wanted more money and knew they could get it from you," Pey replied, "I am still willing to buy them from you; but just because you got scammed doesn't mean I will allow you to overcharge me." Tianxia shook his head again, sighing as he walked away, letting the conversation fall into the midst of all the other noise and conversation in Rumen's square.

He passed by a few vendors, the nearest one had a sign that caught his eye: "Make Cash Fast: High Pay for Drops!" He wandered over and looked at the store; the vendor was buying low-grade Summoned Beast Leather -which he had and was hoping to sell- but for less than even the Item Merchants (who payed 30% of its value) would pay for it. He shook his head again and walked to the next vendor: "Selling rare items cheap!" He peered at the vendor; he was selling medium grade items -which were commonplace around Elderine, for half a silver each -well more than their actual value.

Tianxia gave an exasperated sigh, "There is no way you cannot know that your items are way overpriced." "Yeah. So?" came the reply. Tianxia was startled, he'd expected the vendor would be asleep, letting the store's enchantments do the work for him. "Well I just don't understand," he answered, "I mean...you know it's overpriced, you make a misleading sign, so you know that the only ones buying are newbies with little money that believe they are buying somethign valuable." There was a brief pause, "And?" Tianxia looked at the vendor's mushroom, "Doesn't it bother you at all that you are cheating these people out of their money? That you take advantage of their trust and belief that the people they meet will be nice and honest?" There was an abbreviated laugh inside the mushroom vendor, "I had the same thing happen to me when I was new. I was told I was buying cheap or good stuff all the time when in fact I was getting cheated out of my money." Tianxia furrowed his eyebrows, "So that makes it right for you to do it?" Now it was the vendor who sounded confused, "Huh?" Tianxia shook his head again, "I mean; you do it because you had it happen to you, right?" "Yeah," came the reply. "Did you like it or something?" Tianxia asked. "Duh! Of course not!" the vendor shouted, "I was frikkin ticked when I found out!" "So just because someone did it to you, now you do it to others. Because someone hurt you, now you hurt others. Someone did something something you did not like and was not right; you now do things that are not right to other people that don't like them," Tianxia surmised. There was another pause, "Dude...you're making me sound like an ***." Tianxia furrowed his eyebrows again, "Well...that's how you're coming off," he thought to himself. He shook his head, "Sorry; I don't mean to make you sound like an ***; I just don't understand why when someone does something that hurt you; you turn around and do it to others." Rather than wait for a reply, Tianxia walked further down the road and up the stairs to Rumen's upper level.

"I just don't get it," Tianxia said as he sipped the warm tea from his cup, "Is it really so hard to be honest? Is it so impossible to be fair? Is it that difficult to warn and educate people of scams and cheats when you are scammed or cheated instead of using them on others? Why can't people just help each other a bit more?" "Young fighter, if you are looking for good, decent and honest people, then businesspeople are not who you should be looking at," the man replied, "The method for people in business is to get as much as they can, as fast as they can, while giving away as little as is possible. Being honest in business is a good way to end up broke." Tianxia shook his head, "I just can't believe some of what I've seen...like that one vendor today...it's like he never even considered the fact that he wouldn't like someone doing to him what he was doing to others." The smith put his large mug down, "He didn't -and after you left, it probably quickly left his mind. Greed is something easy to give in to, and quick to be enslaved by. It affects us all in one way or another -humans, elves, even monsters are affected by greed and desire." "Well why doesn't anyone do something to stop it?" Tianxia asked, "I know you can't stop the basic feeling of greed; but why not stop the scamming and cheating at least?" The smith took a sip from his mug, "You saw for yourself what happens when you try to do that, Tianxia; in the end, it is the decision of someone other than yourself. "Well," Tianxia stammered a moment, "What if we MADE people stop doing it?" The smith nodded, "We have those things -they are called 'laws' to most." Tianxia shook his head, "No; laws are too easy to decide not to follow. I mean actually forcing people not to scam or cheat others." The smith took on a sad look, "It is true, we could use force to make everything be that way -but think for a moment: if you force people to not scam or get scammed, to not cheat or get cheated...then is that really any better?"

Tianxia looked down, staring into the brown tea in his cup as the smith continued "It seems simple at times; and there's plenty who would like to do something about it -but it is not so simple, Tianxia. If you wish for people to retain their freedom of choice, then you must allow them the choice of making wrong decisions. The best we can do is to reduce it; there is no good way to stop it. The best way to reduce the scamming and cheating, is to not scam or cheat, and to try to educate people to help them avoid being scammed or cheated." Tianxia nodded, the smith looked over at Rumen's clocktower, "Oh; it's after one already. Sorry, Tianxia, I have to go back to work or else there will be a long line of unhappy weapon-wielders at my shop's door." Tianxia nodded, "Right. Thanks, James." The strong man nodded back as he left, "Good luck, Tianxia." For the next forty minutes, Tianxia simply sat there, thinking about the smith's words as he looked down at the tea he held in his hands.

Orchids_Mantis

08-26-2009, 08:29 AM

Chapter 6: Offensive Blades

The metal spike rose into the air where is hesitated a brief moment, then lunged downward; a loud metallic clang rang out as a sword rose up to meet the attack. Li Tianxia pushed as hard as he could, halting the Grave Robber’s pickaxe inches above his head. He grimaced as he came face to face with the demented fiend; breathing hard through its open mouth. “For Teva’s sake, your breath stinks,” Tianxia remarked, grinning at the Grave Robber’s reaction. A shout came from the side, “Tianxia, behind you!” He turned his head, spying motion above him. He pushed the tip of his blade up, allowing the pickaxe to slide down and to one side as he stepped across and in, spinning in the opposite direction –a pair of dark bluish black blurs (with a hint of a white streak where bared fangs were briefly seen) zipping past him. The Baby Bats quickly flew past the fiend and fighter; climbing into the air once again to prepare for another attack. “That was close,” he thought. He turned his attention back to the Grave Robber, using his sword to guide the incoming attack over his head; and kicking to send the clumsy mob spinning away a few feet. “I thought you said you were going to take care of them, Kaya!” he shouted as the Grave Robber stopped spinning, shaking its head and focusing on him again. “I AM taking care of them!” the archer shouted back as she aimed at the pair of airborne beasts, “There were only two there last time, didn’t you notice?” Metal sang as Tianxia attacked the Grave Robber, the fiend using the long handle of the pickaxe to fend off the attacks, “Yes I did notice…but I was hoping you’d have killed more than one by now!” “If you think you can do better with a bow, you’re welcome to try!” she shouted back as she loosed an arrow at one of the bats –the nimble beast managing to dodge. “Better with a bow, no,” the fighter replied loudly as he swung his sword into the grave Robber’s next attack, halting it again, “But I would mention that this is the FOURTH Grave Robber I have fought since those three pests showed up!” “Yeah,yeah,” she mumbled as she led her targets, “Big bad fighter; so much better than the archer.” She fired again, growling as the bat dodged once more. “Look next time I’ll take the big fat slow guys and you can have the fast little agile guys, okay?” she snapped at him as she readied another arrow.

Tianxia caught another of the Grave Robber’s attacks on his sword, then pushed back and kicked, knocking the fiend off balance, uncontrollably staggering backwards down the hill. He spun and lunged in to give a powerful attack at the vulnerable enemy, only to fall forward with a yell as the Baby Bats flew past him again –this time they sank their fangs briefly (though deeply and more than once each) into any exposed flesh they could see as they passed. There was a twang of string, followed by a soft thumping sound not too far away. “Yeah! Got another one!” Kaya cheered. Tianxia groaned as he pulled his hands under his body, “Great! A few seconds sooner would have been really nice, though!” He pushed himself off the ground, looking up to see the Grave Robber returning. As he got to his feet, his skin flashed blue, wounds healing instantly, vanishing as though they had never been there. “This would probably go a lot faster if you two would stop your stupid bickering while we fought!” the cleric behind them shouted. Tianxia couldn’t think of a retort, so he simply snorted and focused on the enemy ahead of him, “Hmph.” The cleric’s heal spell, though, had drawn the Grave Robber’s attention away from the fighter; the robber began to wander toward the cleric, raising its pickaxe. “Ah crud,” Tianxia sighed as he noticed the enemy’s course, “Every time…every freaking time that cleric casts heal I lose aggro…” He stomped over behind the Grave Robber, which was still walking toward the cleric –who was backing away and raising his shield. Tianxia shook his head, rolled his eyes and took an arrogant stance, taking a deep breath. “Going after him because he healed me? Or are you just upset at him because he has better looks than you?” he said loudly. The fiend halted, turning to face him with eyes narrowing. Tianxia shrugged at the cold stare, looking away as he continued to taunt the Grave Robber, “Well I can’t say I blame you, really. The breath of a manure cart and the face of an old sick hog that spent its life wallowing in filth…it’s little wonder why you’re so mad at everyone.” Its face twisted in anger and it began to move toward the fighter; Tianxia looked briefly to the side –the remaining Baby Bat had finished its climb, dodged another arrow fired at it by the archer, and was preparing to dive on him again as he fought the other enemy. He scowled as the Grave Robber hefted his weapon and the bat began to descend, “Man I’m so tired of this,” he thought as the bat streaked downward and the Grave Robber continued to swing back. His field of vision suddenly seemed to widen, everything around him became sharper, clearer; the movements of his opponents seemed to slow down as a voice in his mind whispered, “Fine…I’ll finish this now.”

The Grave Robber swung his right arm back, pivoting away from the fighter and lowering his left arm in preparation for a powerful blow; at the same time, the Baby Bat swept its wings in, plunging downward from two dozen meters in the air, gaining tremendous speed –speed so fast that it was hard for the archer to follow. It opened its wings barely three meters above the ground, flashing with incredible quickness across the rocky ground of the Burning Hill area; bearing its fangs as it prepared a lethal strike to the fighter’s unprotected neck. Tianxia stepped out and across the Grave Robber’s body, the fiend turned to keep with his target, but in doing so, his attack was halted for a brief second. In that second, Tianxia raised his blade and spun, the thin metal sliding across and through the Grave Robber’s neck. The Grave Robber fell over backwards as Tianxia continued to spin, raising his blade up behind him, then brought it down and across his body as he stepped back. A spatter of blood flew from the tip of his blade, spraying across his chest as one half of the now-bisected Baby Bat flew to either side of the fighter; hitting the ground some distance behind him and tumbling briefly before coming to rest. One of the bat’s wings, unaware yet that it had been killed, continued to flutter for a few moments before finally laying still.

He stood up straight, flicking the blood from his blade before sheathing it; then looked up to see the cleric and archer staring at him, “What?” There was a brief pause, then the cleric spoke up, “That was pretty cool, Tianxia.” He gave a slight shrug, unsure of what exactly to say –he didn’t think it was “cool”…all he did was kill the guys trying to kill him. “Yeah,” Kaya answered after another moment, “But I have a question: Why didn’t you do that sooner?” Tianxia shrugged again, looking around as though embarrassed and moving for the gateway to the Sea of Greed, “Umm, our quest is done…that was twenty Grave Robbers. We can go back now.” “You know…you do that every now and again,” Kaya said as she caught up to him, ”We’ll be fighting, and we’ll be having trouble or the fight will be taking long…then all of a sudden you do something like that and we either win, or the fight tips drastically in our favor.” He stopped a moment –she was right, the Grave Robber and Baby Bat ambush today, the Kebing trap last week, the Boar and Ratman attack last month…all of them had resulted in him doing something similar to this. “I’m not complaining, mind you,” Kaya said from beside him, jogging him out of his thoughts, “I’m just curious as to what exactly happened.” Tianxia looked away, thinking for a moment, “I…can’t really explain it,” he started, “I dunno. I just…got tired of those pesky bats and that freaking Grave Robber…I got tired of being attacked, of seeming to make so little progress in the fight; I got aggravated that we were still fighting the same enemies.” He looked down, eyes focused on nothing, “Then all of a sudden…it’s like I saw the whole field, both you guys and the enemies and how they were moving; then I saw the combination of moves that would finish both enemies by attacking inside of their own attacks.” “Same with the Boars and Kebing?” the cleric asked from the other side. Tianxia nodded, “Kind of…yeah.” There was silence again, and Tianxia was starting to feel uncomfortable, so he started for the exit again, the cleric and archer following him. “Well whatever it is,” the cleric smiled, “It’s pretty cool to watch.”

“I have to wonder,” Tianxia said as he watched Kaya talking to Robin in Rumen. “Huh?” the cleric beside him looked over. “Well…I know of other people Robin has asked to hunt Grave Robbers in Burning Hill …I just have to wonder why he keeps planting potatoes there…and why he keeps getting surprised when those robbers go rummaging through his potato fields.” The cleric thought for a moment, “Huh…you know…that IS kind of odd.” “Also,” Tianxia continued, “I’ve never seen –or even heard of- that man leaving Rumen…so when does he tend these fields? Or even know when his fields have been sacked, for that matter? Furthermore…we were in Burning Hill all day today…and I never once saw anything that resembled a potato field –even a ruined potato field; did you?” The cleric looked at the old man handing Kaya the reward he’d promised them, “Come to think of it…no…I didn’t.”

“Woohoo!” Kaya shouted happily as she returned, “Three full silvers! One for each of us!” She handed each of them their share of the reward. “And the vitality scroll?” the cleric asked. “It’s her turn to keep the extra item, Roddimus,” Tianxia answered as he took his share of the silver. “Oh,” the cleric nodded, “Sorry. Thought it was my turn.” They all turned to walk down the street, Kaya grinned, jabbing Roddimus with her elbow, “Hehe, that’s why he’s the one that keeps track. You always think it’s your turn.” “I do NOT!” he shot back. Tianxia shook his head, the two beginning to have a simple –though slightly annoying, quarrel containing a chorus of “Do too” and “Do not”.

Orchids_Mantis

09-05-2009, 10:38 PM

Chapter 6: Offensive Blades

Tianxia had met the archer Kaya some time ago –about a week after losing his last broadsword to the scammer. They were both hunting the spike-shelled turtle-beasts known as Boogy in the Sea of Greed alone; but the fighter had picked up the much-unwanted attention of a nearby Little Pinky. By itself the ranged-attacking magic-wielding fairy was a difficult fight –one which most fighters would wish to avoid due to their armor’s aggravating tendency to either disintegrate under a magic assault, or to allow the power of a magic attack to pass through it unimpeded- throw in with that beast the attacks of a slow, heavy –and quite eager- Boogy against a lone fighter and it made for a near-impossible scenario. Fortunately, Kaya had been nearby and gave her own ranged assistance to him, poisoning both the Little Pinky and the Boogy; granting him the time he needed to stun the Boogy, and charge the Little Pinky, slaying it –then the Boogy shortly after. Tianxia thanked the archer, then wandered off to another part of the island to continue his training –while the archer’s help had been appreciated, he also felt that it should not have been necessary; he should not have allowed himself to come into a situation where he required the help of another person to win. Not long after, though; he heard a cry for help from the part of the island where the archer had been. He made his way over a sand dune, surprised to find the archer running away from a poisoned, bleeding, and incredibly ticked off Boogy Knight. While Boogy were themselves large and powerful, Boogy Knights were as tall as most work horses –and usually even longer across the ground- and capable of biting a human in half with their powerful beaks. Thankfully for most adventurers, Boogy Knights were not a common sight; unfortunately for the archer, though, she had managed to find one.

Not knowing what else he could do; Tianxia had charged forward –as well as he could in the loose sand- and managed to get the beast’s attention through a short chain of taunts (relating the Boogy Knight to turtles that were caught and used for soup, or chickens by way of its beak) and slices at its hind legs. The two adventurers fought against the oversized Boogy for a good while –Kaya continuously sending arrow after arrow into the beast’s flesh, using her poisoning skill whenever she could; and Tianxia slicing at the beast’s neck and legs, jumping and rolling across the sand every few seconds as the beast chomped at him with its large, powerful, boney jaws. At last the Boogy Knight fell; both adventurers, panting and exhausted, collapsed to the sand for a few minutes to recoup. As they rested, Tianxia talked with Kaya; he found her interesting enough that he asked if she wanted to train with him –surprisingly she had agreed. Tianxia had enjoyed having company while training –as well as the increased speed with which hunting went with a partner- to the point that he trained with her quite often over the next few weeks.

The cleric, Roddimus, he and Kaya had met three weeks ago –actually it was the day they had gotten jumped by Boars and Ratmen in the Forest of Mist. He and Kaya had been wandering through the forest when they heard a commotion –it sounded like an incredible fight, there was a range of sounds from dozens of beings coming from inside a thick group of trees covered in a deep mist –they thought perhaps a party of adventurers had been attacked by a large gang of enemies. They walked into the trees, completely surprised when they saw it to be a territorial war between Ramten defending a nesting ground and Boars that wanted the area for themselves. Initially, all of the mobs ignored them; Kaya and Tianxia, in an unspoken agreement that this was a bad place to be, began walking back out of the trees –a cracking branch beneath Kaya’s foot drawing the attention of several nearby Boars and Ratmen. The rat-beasts gave loud hisses as the Boars gave warning howls; several of the other nearby mobs behind them halting and turning to face the adventurers. With a shout, Kaya and Tianxia bolted through the entrance, Kaya loosing a few poison arrows as the large mob behind them barreled after the fleeing adventurers. Recalling that other adventurers had been training no too far away, and not wishing for the mobs following him to turn on someone else; Tianxia halted and spun on his heel; driving forward at the oncoming mob.

Kaya stopped when she saw Tianxia turn, looking at him as though he were insane, charging into the midst of the Boars and Ratmen. She resolved herself to giving what assistance she could; firing arrows and poison shots into the mob –trying not to hit the fighter. Tianxia, for his part, was managing to do well –the gang of mobs was so bunched together that only a few were able to attack him; however, slowly but surely they were whittling away at him with their constant attacks –and whenever he managed to fell one, there always seemed to be another to take its place. After about five minutes of fighting; there were still five Ratmen and four Boars remaining.

Several sets of clawed hands raked across Tianxia’s chest and back; he reached into his bag to use a charge from his soul stone, only to find he had no charges remaining. There was no need to assess the situation -he knew there was no way for him to win as things were; then something just “clicked”. He shouted for Kaya to run and made a furious drive at a nearby Ratman, impaling it through its chest; as he spun to draw the blade out, another nearby Ratman lunged –directly into the path of his sword. With a flick of the wrist to reverse the grip of the sword, the blade sank into the back of the beast’s head. Tianxia took a step forward and yanked his blade free of its boney sheath, spinning and sliding it into and across the neck of a Boar –hands stretched back in preparation for a powerful claw attack. Another Ratman in front of him lurched back wards as a poison arrow fired by Kaya –who had ignored the fighter’s recommendation of running- shot into its eye; the beast fell to the ground where it spent a few agonizing moments convulsing in pain before it went still. Tianxia reversed his grip again, bringing the sword up to a normal hold, and stepped backwards as he spun, bringing the blade down across the chest of a Ratman; then stepped forward thrusting his blade out and plunging it into the solar plexus of another Boar, paralyzing its lungs. He lurched as more claws ran across his back, he pulled his blade free and spun, dropping low to the ground and slicing at the remaining Ratman’s feet; dropping it to the ground with a hissing howl of pain. He got to his feet, lifting his blade up as he bent backwards, stabbing the Boar behind him in the upper chest- but missing a fatal strike. The boar roared as the blade sank in, then with a growl it returned the favor, jabbing both of its clawed hands into Tianxia’s back; sending him staggering forward.

Dizzy from the loss of blood and exhausted from the prolonged fight; Tianxia dropped to his knees and sank forward, using the last of his energy to direct his fall so that his blade sank into the chest of the Ratman he’d wounded earlier, killing it as well. He shut his eyes, taking a haggard breath, wondering briefly what death would feel like. A strange refreshing wind flowed across him and through his body, healing his wounds and revitalizing him. Mind suddenly alert and body filled with renewed energy, Tianxia opened his eyes, pulled his sword free and shot forward, the claws of the two remaining Boars sinking into the ground where he had been laying. With a flurry of strikes and a few more poison shots from Kaya; the long fight finally ended. As the last Boar fell to the ground, Tianxia saw a purple-haired cleric standing behind Kaya –he had heard the fighting and Tianxia’s shout for Kaya to run; and had come to offer assistance. The three of them had quickly become friends and they had been training together on a near-daily basis since.

The trio continued walking down Rumen’s cobblestone street –the argument behind Tianxia continuing as they neared the smithy. He pulled out his new broadsword –which he had gotten only that morning, and a few low grade Elrue. “I think I’ll stop by Jame’s shop,” he said, the archer and cleric looking up from their argument, “Get this sword refined a bit.” Roddimus looked at the fighter, “You know…I’ve been meaning to ask: Why don’t you have a shield? I know you can afford one.” “I don’t want one,” Tianxia replied, not looking back. The cleric tilted his head, “Huh? Why not? It would make fights a lot easier.” Tianxia shook his head, “No it wouldn’t –at least not the way I fight it wouldn’t.” The cleric kept pace with the fighter, confusion growing, “What? What do you mean?” “It’s…not how I was trained,” he answered, stopping. He turned to look at the cleric, “My style of fighting –the style of swordsmanship I was instructed in; it doesn’t use a shield. It’s an attack style called Offensive Blades; to people who use it, using a shield to block is a loss, not a gain.” “I don’t follow,” said the cleric. Tianxia gave a nod, “Yeah…neither did I, at first. As its name suggests, Offensive Blades is a style designed to fight and kill opponents as swiftly as possible; it uses many two handed strikes not possible when one wields a shield.” Roddimus nodded, “Ooooh, I see.” Tianxia looked off into the distance, “But there is a lot more to it than simply that.” “Well,” Kaya said as she took a seat in the shade of a nearby building, “Tell us the rest then –this is kind of interesting.” Roddimus sat down next to her, adding his own comments to urge Tianxia to tell them more about the way he had been taught to fight; finally giving in, Tianxia nodded and sat down opposite them.

roxca

09-07-2009, 11:53 PM

Don't worry I'm reading this too. D: I've only finished the prologue but I'll read the rest once I have the time. Until then night. ^^

Orchids_Mantis

09-15-2009, 07:57 PM

Chapter 6: Offensive Blades

Tianxia thought for a few moments as he sat in the shade, then took a long breath as he began, “I was instructed by a powerful fighter by the name of Shif. My training did not last too long –only a few months- but in that time I learned more about combat than I have before or since. With fighters, there are two main roads to take in combat: defensive combat and offensive combat. Most fighters that use a shield are defensive –they use their swords primarily as a way of giving added damage to whoever is in the party with them; and the shield to block attacks as they keep the enemy away from their party members. The majority of offensive fighters do not use shields; they rely on powerful attacks to kill an enemy themselves, rather than having someone else deal the damage. Most of these fighters focus on strength in their training to aid in granting them more powerful attacks to defeat enemies faster; however, there is a limit to how much strength alone can do -and should you come up against an enemy who has greater strength, you will lose if all you have to aid you is strength. This is the focus to Offensive Blades.”

Tianxia shifted a bit as he continued, “Offensive Blades has been described most accurately to depict its intent as a star; I will explain: Aside from the central idea of strength there are five important aspects to the Offensive blade: Knowledge -that is to say, how many different strikes you are able to use. Technique –how well, how fast and how instinctively you can execute them. Carrying of motion –using your motion and the motion of your opponent to gain an advantage, be it in footing or in attack speed or power. Misdirection –leading your opponent into presenting an opening or causing hesitation in an attack. And finally, surprise –which is usually –but not always- the exploitation of misdirection.”

Tianxia stood, grabbing five twigs from a nearby tree and then sat again, laying them on the ground in a star pattern, “The idea of the star is this: The space in the middle is strength –it is the largest and most central aspect to the star; each of the star’s five points is one of the five parts I talked about earlier. Now when you look at them individually…” he reached down and broke the twigs several times, until he made a pentagon and five triangles, “What do you see?” “A pentagon and five triangles,” Roddimus said bluntly, “What about them?” “Yes,” Tianxia nodded, “But what else looks like a triangle?” Kaya and Roddimus were quiet a moment, then Tianxia drew his sword, “Have you ever seen a kid draw one of these on paper? Usually looks like a triangle, doesn’t it?” He sheathed his blade again as he pointed to the star, “It’s the same here. Each triangle represents a blade; an aspect of attacking.” He reached down and put the twigs back into the star pattern, “Each blade supports, and is in turn supported by, the central pentagon of strength –a main distinction between Offensive Blades and other attack styles is that strength is a key idea, but not the only idea.”

He looked up at the cleric and archer, both had brows furrowed as they looked at the twigs, “Well…that’s the history behind it, anyways. Now here is the principle I spoke of earlier, and I will show it in the manner that Shif showed me. The idea behind Offensive Blades and its incompatibility with the shield is this: All combat is derived from two basic moves; the block,” he made a wide circle with his hand and arm as though intercepting an attack. “And the strike,” He made a slow punch at an imaginary target. Putting his hand down, he looked back at the archer and cleric sitting with him, “Both take time to accomplish in a fight; and both use energy to be accomplished. Now energy is finite in any person, no matter how great their endurance, so after a certain point, you will run out of energy, leaving you slow and your attacks weak.” He looked at the archer, “Kaya, reach out and punch at me –slowly” She looked over at Roddimus for a moment, then complied, making a slow punching motion. “Here she strikes at me,” Tianxia said as he raised his arm in a slow circle, “And here I block the strike.” He froze, looking back at both of them, “Now what has occurred in this fight?” “I punched and you blocked,” Kaya replied. Tianxia shook his head, “No, I mean, what progress has been made?” Kaya and Roddimus looked at each other, remaining silent. “None,” Tianxia answered, “No progress has been made, no shift has occurred, the only thing that has happened has been to waste time and moves -and thus, waste vital energy.”

Roddimus made a face, “Well yeah; but combat is a lot faster than that.” “That’s true,” Tianxia said as he stood and looked at the cleric, “Roddimus, throw a kick at me; as fast and hard as you can.” He exchanged a glance with Kaya, then looked back at the fighter, “Are…are you sure?” Tianxia nodded, “Yeah, of course.” Roddimus shrugged, “Well okay…but you asked me to.” He got up and raised his hands into a fighting stance; then lashed out with a foot; yelling and spinning around as Tianxia’s own kick impacted the inside of his leg, pivoting him around his planted foot. Kaya suppressed a laugh from her position on the ground as the cleric regained his footing, looking incredulously at the fighter. Tianxia shook his head, “That was still a bit slow. Perhaps you should try hitting me with a punch, instead.” The cleric nodded with a wry grin –he intended to make the fighter pay for that last action. He rotated around, throwing a powerful punch with his back hand. Before the punch landed, Tianxia’s fist leapt out in a tight curve, slamming into the cleric’s inside wrist. “AAAH!” Roddimus shouted as he grabbed his now-sore wrist. “That one was way too slow, Roddimus,” Tianxia replied, Kaya now audibly snickering, “Try a front hand strike, a bit faster this time.”

Roddimus sneered –he’d give him a fast front hand punch, all right. He raised his hands again, and in a flash, His fist jumped forward, knuckles smashing painfully into Tianxia’s own knuckles as he again punched the incoming punch; Kaya burst into laughter. “YAH!” he yelped as he quickly pulled his fist back, taking turns rubbing each of his hands, “What the heck, Tianxia!?” Tianxia smiled, “Sorry; that was pretty much my reaction to it as well. You see, if I punch your punch, or kick your kick, I do more than I can with a simple blocking move; I can damage your attacking weapon, knock you off balance –sometimes even simply catching my opponent by surprise in attacking instead of defending is enough to gain an advantage; and less time is spent in combat because less time is spent with no gain –which allows me to move on faster to the next opponent. Offensive Blades is the same in this aspect: I strike your strike. I attack your attack. I don’t waste a move by simply blocking, every move I make is an attack using one of the style’s five ideas to gain an advantage in the fight to allow me to win faster with less effort so I can move on quicker to the next battle and have more energy left for it. Offensive Blades is not a style to protect someone like a shield-bearer uses –it’s not meant to hold someone’s attention iu a prolonged fight. This style is meant to end a fight –to kill your opponent fast and move on.” Kaya stopped laughing for a moment and looked up at Tianxia with a huge grin, “I still don’t quite understand. Do you think you could explain again the part about...” “NO!” Roddimus shouted before she could finish, “No, no, no, no NO! No more! I get it! I’ll explain it to you later if need be but NO! Not him! Lecture over; demonstration done, thank you very much now stop beating up on the cleric and go refine your weapon!” Kaya sagged against the wall of the building in a fit of laughter; Tianxia tried unsuccessfully to hide a chuckle of his own.

Orchids_Mantis

09-15-2009, 08:03 PM

Chapter 7: The Key to the Cave

“Your presence is requested in the Forest of Mist by Grand Master Sean at your earliest convenience.” That was the content of the letter tied to the carrier pigeon’s foot. While only a short sentence, it carried great importance to Tianxia and his friends –even then, everyone knew that a request for an audience by him meant a challenging quest that would allow one to gain advancement in title, and a great amount of power. As such, Kaya and Roddimus had no qualm with stopping their quest and going with him to the Forest of Mist to speak to the Grand Master. The trip seemed to take arduously long; but the trio at last made their way into the forest and found the guardsman standing where he always did, in front of a pond not far from the Luminous Stone entrance in the center of the forest. Tianxia walked up to the large man in heavy battle armor, “Umm…you sent for me, sir?” The large man looked down, “Hm? Who are you?” Tianxia looked away briefly, “Yeah; he’s never met me before, how could I have expected him to know me?” he thought. He cleared his throat, “My name is Li Tianxia. I got a message stating you wanted to speak to me.” The guardsman eyed the fighter, as though gauging his ability just by looking at him, “I see. Hm. Very well, then…Tianxia.” Sean straightened up as he spoke, “You know, not exceedingly long ago I was a young adventurer like yourself –learning how to fight, fighting to rid Isya of the monsters that plague us; and training constantly to be able to fight stronger monsters, to have a greater impact on their population and make the people of this land safer.”

Tianxia listened as the strong man continued, “One day as I wandered this old battlefield here, I came across a mysterious cave. Upon entry, I found it to be a portal to a place of trials for any who entered. The power of the cave is deathly intense, however; and my find nearly ended up being my demise –I only barely managed to pass its trials. Once out of the cave, I found myself with much greater strength, an incredible amount of power that I did not know I could possess. I quickly told the masters of my find; they all agreed that it was an astounding place –but the cave’s awesome ability was viewed to be too threatening to leave unchecked, too deadly to leave someone who was not ready for the cave’s trials to enter by chance; thus it was ordered that the cave be sealed by a heavy door enchanted with the strongest spells of its time –stronger than any permitted magics that exist today. These spells make the door virtually impenetrable, and the lock nearly unbreakable. I was given the key, and along with my own training and quests, was assigned the task of allowing other adventurers access to the trials of what became called the Shadow Cave when they were ready.” Sean looked down at the young fighter before him, “Tianxia, you have been judged as being ready to face the trials of the Shadow Cave.” Tianxia jumped into the air, raising a fist with a short holler; the large man sighed, “Un-fortunately…I cannot let you pass through the doors.”

Tianxia landed hard on the ground, looking up at the Grand Master in shock, “What? Why not?” The large man fidgeted slightly, as though embarrassed, “Well…I don’t have the key with me any more.” Tianxia’s brows creased, “Huh? Well where is it?” “Truthfully…I don’t know,” Sean shook his head, “I was on my way here passing through the forest earlier when I felt something bump into me. I turned to see what it was and nothing was there –so I thought nothing of it at first…then when I got here, I found that my key was gone…I’m ashamed to say it…but I think a monster stole the key to the Shadow Cave.” “Well go find it!” Tianxia shouted at the large man. “I CAN’T!” the man shouted back, “I have to stay here and guard the entrance to the cave! Tianxia, this cave has the ability to grant its power to anyone that enters it and passes its trials…anyone, and any-THING.” He shook his head, “If a monster has that key, it must mean they are trying to gain access to the cave to increase their own power; imagine the havoc that would cause –monsters are already powerful enough as they are. If I were to leave to hunt the beast down; it may sneak by me and enter the cave –I cannot take that chance.” Tianxia’s eyes widened, he hadn’t considered this, he had only wanted to get into the cave to become stronger.

He thought for a moment, then looked up at the Grand Master, “I’ll find it.” The guard looked down at him, “What?” Tianxia nodded at the man, “I’ll go find the monster that stole the key and take the key back.” Sean shook his head, “That would be nice…but I don’t know what monster it was that stole the key –it could have been any of them –and the beast itself could be outside of the forest by now.” Tianxia shook his head in reply, “No, it wouldn’t leave. Whatever monster it was, if it intends to use the Shadow Cave for itself, then it has to still be in this forest; I’ll hunt down every one of the beasts here and find the key.” With that, Tianxia turned and walked up to Kaya and Roddimus, leading them deeper into the forest. As they disappeared into the mist, Grand Master Sean smiled to himself, allowing himself a light chuckle, “Hehehe. Man I never get tired of that part. That fighter…he’s strong –and has good intentions…but he’s as gullible as a newborn child –I can’t believe I actually kept from laughing while I spun him that story about monsters wanting to use the cave.” He thought for a moment, then wondered to himself, “I wonder…will they actually try to get the key when they find it, or will they give up and come ask for help? I may have gone a bit overboard this time.” He noted that the party of adventurers had wandered directly into the area of the forest most densely populated by monsters –he could already hear the hisses and howls of monsters being attacked and killed. For a brief moment, the Grand Master actually felt a twinge of remorse for what he had just let loose on the monsters in the forest.

The Boar swung its arm back, claws glowing with concentrated energy as it prepared to use its special claw ability; a glint of light flashed as a long piece of flat sharpened steel leapt forward into the rearing beast’s neck. The Boar’s arm dropped to its side as its eyes rolled back, body collapsing as Tianxia pulled his sword free. There was a loud hiss from behind him and he spun raising his blade, to see a Ratman writhing in agony on the ground before him –two arrows tipped with a deadly poison (activated by an elfin spell) buried in the beast’s lower chest. Sweat poured from the Ratman’s body as it spasmed, hissing and screeching in pain. With a quick jab of the sword, Tianxia put the beast quite literally out of its misery. The party looted the two dead enemies; Tianxia shook his head as they divided up what they found, “Dang…still no key.” They had been fighting for hours –indeed most of the day had passed; and while Roddimus and Kaya had needed to stop and take a break four times during the day; Tianxia seemed to have a limitless supply of energy, continuing to move on to search for another opponent after every battle.

He looked around, seeing nothing nearby but trees, “Well this area’s clear…guess we’re moving on again.” “We’ve been to the entrance to Luminous, the gate to Elderine, all of the islands,” Roddimus said from next to him, “We’ve fought Boars, Grave Robbers, Ratmen, Ratman Fighters, Boogy, Speedy Boogy, a freaking Boogy KNIGHT, Little Lizzardmen, Procks, Kebing, Smart Phinos, Kebing Jokers, those wonderful acid-spitting Prock Zones and oh, let’s not forget the dang SHARP BOAR GANG we found! I mean, what else is there to fight?” “Phino, Phinofly and Little Greenky,” Tianxia answered matter-of-factly, “Down by the entrance to Sand Beach.” Roddimus stopped, staring blankly at the fighter, “You’ve got to be kidding…we’re actually going after THOSE weak little things?” “If there is a chance that one of them has the key, then yes,” Tianxia replied without stopping. Next to him, Kaya shook her head, “Well at least the forest will be a bit safer for a while.” “Don’t count on it,” the cleric responded as he started to drag his feet to follow them, “Monsters are killed here by the hundred every day; I doubt Tianxia’s little rampage will have much of a visible effect for more than a few hours.”

“Hm…I guess that’s true. Though I wish it were easier to-oomf!” Kaya’s reply was cut short as she bumped into Tianxia –who had stopped walking. She shook her head, then her eyes widened, as did Roddimus’, when they saw what had caused Tianxia to stop without a word: there in a clearing not too far away from them, was an enormous Boogy, surrounded by several smaller –though still reasonably sized Boogy; all of which were standing by or wandering in the vicinity of a flat rock, on which sat a shiny copper key. “Tianxia,” Kaya said softly, “What the hell IS that thing?” Tianxia shrugged, “I have no clue…offhand I’d say a Boogy Knight but…this thing is too huge even for those –and it looks a bit different in the face.” “I’ve heard rumors,” Roddimus said, eyes not leaving the sight of the enormous monster, “Stories, mostly, of a mob rarely seen in the Sea of Greed and Forest of Mist; an incredibly large and powerful Boogy -one able to command any other Boogy known to exist, even Boogy Knights…it was called the King Boogy. It’s so rarely spoken of that I thought they were just made up.” Tianxia looked at the cleric for a moment, then back at the large turtle-beast, “Well, based on the description, I’d say that one: they aren’t just fiction…and two: we’re in for an interesting fight.”

“You can’t be serious!” Kaya whispered harshly, “You actually want us to FIGHT that thing!?” “You’re insane!” Roddimus added to Kaya’s comment. “Look at that thing as it is,” Tianxia said, glancing back at his friends, “Imagine how large and powerful it is now…then imagine what would happen if it were to find its way into the cave with that key.” His friend’s eyes widened slightly, and they sank back for a moment as Tianxia continued in a whisper, “We have to take that thing out –or at least get the key away from it.” The cleric shook his head, “We don’t stand a chance, Tianxia. Even you have to acknowledge the fact that we are outmatched here.” Tianxia grinned and looked back at him, “Outmatched in strength, yes; but there is more to fighting than simply strength.” He looked back at the congregation of Boogy, “We will just have to use other aspects of fighting to compensate for that.” “Like what?” Kaya asked from beside him. Tianxia thought for a moment, then looked at her, a wicked grin spreading across his face, “Misdirection and surprise come readily to mind.” Kaya cringed at the look the fighter had, and the comment that accompanied it, “Oooh…, I’m not going to like this plan, am I?” Tianxia’s grin grew wider, “The beginning of the plan…probably not.”

Orchids_Mantis

09-15-2009, 08:06 PM

Chapter 7: The Key to the Cave

If only other Boogy were around to be jealous of it; that was what the large and powerful Boogy thought as it wandered around. Granted, there were two other Boogy that held the same position as it did –the escort and bodyguard to the King Boogy; but still, that meant that out of the ENTIRE Boogy populace, only three were able to claim the position of the King Boogy’s bodyguard, to always be in the majestic presence of the immensely powerful Boogy monarch. It continued to roam about the small field, pretending to scout for enemies –it knew that very few beings would dare to try attacking it, let alone the king itself. It mused to itself, wishing other Boogy were nearby to make it feel even more important than it was. It held its head high, eyes half-closed as it imagined being surrounded by other Boogy sitting and staring in awe of the king, wishing they could have its position and be able to go wherever the King Boogy went. It reached the end of the field and turned, gazing without focusing into the trees as it did so. Suddenly its eyes snapped open as for a brief second it thought it made out the shape of a humanoid darting behind a tree. It stood still and peered into the dark forest. What had it seen? A Ratman? A Phino, maybe? No…it was too tiny. It was possible it may have been an elf or human…an adventurer –now there would be a perk to the day. To fight and defeat an adventurer, to report this back to the king and get commended for its efforts –that would make even the other bodyguards jealous of it.

It continued to peer into the forest, which remained still and quiet. After a few minutes, the Boogy decided it had not seen anything and started to turn away –then the shadow appeared again. Its head shot back over as it saw the figure emerge and dart behind another tree. It caught a glimpse of shoulder length purple hair, pointy ears, and a piece of curved wood. With the speed and silence of this being’s movement, there was only one thing it could possibly be: an elf that had become an archer –and based on the elf’s movements, it was trying to avoid a fight. The Boogy grinned in its mind as it wandered into the brush, approaching the tree hiding the archer from the side –as it closed in it could see one of the archer’s hands on the ground as the elf crouched low behind the large plant –hoping not to be seen.

With a sudden burst of speed, the Boogy lunged forward around the tree; its eyes widened as cold metal touched against the skin on its throat in a vital area where its large shell offered no protection, its upraised head leaving it exposed. The fighter crouching below the tree stood up, sword not wavering in the least as he did so; the elven archer dropped down from a tree branch not too far above. It looked back at the fighter, eyes wide as it cursed its bad luck –the last thought it had before the fighter drove his sword into the beast’s neck.

Tianxia grinned at Kaya as they stood next to the body of the large Boogy, Roddimus emerging from his hiding place behind yet another tree, “Now that wasn’t so bad, was it?” She gave a light laugh, “Surprisingly, it wasn’t.” Okay then,” he said as he sheathed his sword, “On to the next one.” He reached out and put his arm around Roddimus’ shoulder, grinning as he nodded lightly, “Roddimus, old buddy; you look like you felt left out on that plan.” The cleric’s eyes widened when he heard this. His hands made small pointing gestures at Kaya as he stammered a response, “Deh-um-ip-abba-abbahb…no?”

The second guard was beginning wonder where the third had wandered off to; and started searching the nearby forests surrounding the field for its partner. “Probably slacking off somewhere,” it thought as it searched, “That arrogant oafish moron is going to get himself in trouble one of these…” Its thoughts stopped as it saw the body of the third guard lying behind a tree –and there crouched down in front was a lone cleric, looting the corpse. A massive thud emanated from beneath its foot as it stomped the ground. The cleric jumped into the air and fell back, giving a startled shriek at the sight of another of the large turtle-beasts. “Hhyou,” the Boogy hissed, “Hhhow dhhare hhhyou dhhho thhhissss!” The cleric did not stay for the rest of the Boogy’s commentary, taking swiftly to his feet the adventurer spun on his heel and bolted through the forest; the large Boogy tearing after him, “HhhhI hhhhhwill crhhhussshh hhhyou!”

The cleric darted between trees, ducked under vines and swiftly bolted around rocks, trying to lose the Boogy, but the large beast was too fast to be lost so easily. The cleric tucked into a small grove of trees; the Boogy charged into them, knocking them all to the ground. It searched through the fallen trees, not finding the cleric. It looked up, glancing around and spying a tree not too far out with a freshly broken branch low to the ground –one with an odd lump at the base of its shadow. The Boogy lunged around the tree, crashing through the brush and landing with a great boom on all four feet; the cleric again falling back in surprise, scurrying backwards on all fours as the Boogy closed in. It raised its head high and opened its mighty jaws as it prepared to kill the cleric, “Nhhow hhhI hhhhave hhhyou!” The cleric suddenly grinned back at the Boogy, “Correction: Now WE have YOU.” There was a crash from the brush next to the large Boogey, followed by a strange sensation –or loss of sensation- in its neck; then the world turned dark.

Tianxia sheathed his sword and looked at Roddimus as he got up from the forest floor, “See? You have to admit that was kind of fun.” Roddimus nodded slightly, then looked at the decapitated beast lying next to him, “Yeah. But still…I hate the plans where I’m the bait.” “Hey, last time it was Kaya, this time it was you,” Tianxia shrugged. “Yeah well when are YOU the bait?” Kaya asked as she walked up to them. He looked back at her with sarcastic smile, “I usually AM the bait…or did you forget that in normal fights, the enemies attack me instead of you?” “That’s not being bait,” Kaya answered, “That’s tanking.” Tianxia shrugged, “Fine then: it’s ‘tanking’. Whatever you call it the idea is the same; get the enemy focused on you so someone else can kill it.” He turned and started walking back toward the field, calling over his shoulder, “By the way, Kaya: you’re ‘tanking’ next.” Kaya stopped and looked up at him, “What? What do you mean by that?” Tianxia didn’t answer, she began to walk after him, “You know…I don’t remember electing you as our leader; how exactly is it that you get to decide these things?”

The absence of the first guard was a mere annoyance, not granted much attention by the third guard o the King Boogy; but the disappearance of the second guard had triggered alarm to the remaining turtle beasts. The final guard took position in front of the King Boogy, which had swallowed the key on the table, and began to lead it from the area. The escort Boogy’s head was in constant motion as it scanned the edge of the field and the forest nearby for enemies lying in wait. There was a brief movement –a shadow’s shadow- from a bush near the forest’s edge. The escort Boogy stopped, staring at the bush to see if it was jumping at shadows or if it was indeed a genuine threat. The King Boogy, however, did not have the patience to wait and see, walking forward and nudging the guard to move on; reluctantly, the guard complied. It swung its head back around and continued forward toward the edge of the field. With barely a sound, a young elf rose from the bushes that the escort had been looking at, bow in hand and arrow drawn. The escort trumpeted alarm and turned toward the elf as she loosed her arrow; projectile flying true into its target, poison tip burrowing into its neck. The poison worked fast, causing the large reptilian monster to grow sick within seconds of the arrow’s impact; but the strong monster charged forward, refusing to be stopped until it had put an end to this attack on its majesty; the King Boogy, meanwhile, began to turn slowly toward the archer as well. The elven archer stood her ground, continuing to fire arrow after arrow into the Boogy’s face and neck.

As the large Boogy drew near, the archer leapt high into the air, climbing into the branches of a nearby tree. “That will not save you,” the Boogy thought as it rammed its hard shell into the tree, branches shaking and trunk cracking slightly. The archer got her footing in the tree’s branches and began firing arrows again; the Boogy backed away and prepared to ram the tree again, “I will flatten this tree to the ground; then kill you, leaving you a trophy -impaled on my shell for all to see.” It lowered its head and prepared for another run at the tree, when it heard something running at it from another direction. It turned toward the noise, howling in pain as the ambushing cleric lowered his mace into its front knee, cracking the bone. The cleric jumped back to avoid the Boogy’s counterattack, as yet another sound came from its other side. The Boogy spun rapidly, hoping to catch the incoming offender off-guard and slice it with the spikes on its shell, only to again howl as a blade pierced the skin on its other foreleg. The Boogy snapped at the fighter, who had dropped to the ground to avoid the spikes, but the human was surprisingly fast, rolling to the side to dodge. Getting to his feet, the fighter jumped back and dodged another bite from the escort Boogy, which growled as the cleric and archer again made their presence known. Each time the Boogy turned at either the fighter or cleric, the other would attack a foreleg, Kaya continuously firing arrows into the turtle-beast’s head –managing to blind it in one eye with a lucky shot; quickly the large Boogy’s front legs were rendered useless, leaving it immobilized at the tree's base, where the trio of adventurers began to attack the beast mercilessly. Before the larger and slower King Boogy was able to arrive, the Boogy escort gave out a loud, defiant call, then sank to the ground where it lay still and silent.

There was no time for celebration, just as the escort gave its final cry; the King Boogy came onto the scene, slamming the side of its shell hard into Tianxia, sending him flying backwards –fortunately he had missed the large spikes on the Boogy’s side. “You,” the titanic turtle growled loudly, “You have killed my minions...You have slain my escorts…and you DARE to brandish weapons in my presence!” It threw its head to the side, knocking Roddimus back this time, “I will not allow this affront to my majesty to continue!” An arrow impacted the King Boogy’s head, bouncing off of the thick bone. The large beast looked up at the treed archer with a growl, then spun around again, slicing through the tree’s trunk and felling the hardwood plant, “You will die for this!”

Orchids_Mantis

09-17-2009, 11:13 PM

Chapter 7: The Key to the Cave

Kaya found herself pinned beneath one of the tree’s limbs, she tried desperately to move the branch and free herself; but her thrashing only served to draw the King Boogy’s attention. The immense creature let out a long, hissing breath like a snake about to strike as it took slow steps toward the trapped elf –making sure to step on the tree to keep the archer trapped in place. Branches cracked and crunched –the trunk itself seemed ready to splinter under the large Boogy’s weight; the King Boogy drew itself up high as it reached the trapped adventurer, short hisses –laughter- escaping its slightly opened beak as it lorded over her. “Dang, this one’s even bigger,” came a voice from beside it, “Well guys, we have enough meat after this one to feed turtle soup as breakfast lunch and dinner to a whole village for a good week!” The large beast turned to see what was making such bold claims, finding a grinning human, sword resting over his shoulder, standing as though unimpressed by the Boogy’s size and clear power. “Shouldn’t be too hard,” the human continued, “The last three went pretty quickly, this one can’t be that much tougher.” The Boogy lowered its head, beak opening wider as it hissed at the brazen swordsman, “Impressed with yourself, are you, human? Allow me to show you the error in your judgment.” The King Boogy swung its head out and around, impacting the fighter in the torso, sending him onto his back several feet away. The large turtle-beast trumpeted, holding its head high in the air, “Foolish man! I am the KING Boogy! There is NONE stronger than I!” It stood tall, its head tilting down to glare at the human –who was getting back to his feet, “Now prepare yourself. If that is the best you have, you will die fast; and I like to play with my food a bit.”

The human grinned, an annoying, aggravating, enraging grin that seemed to make the Boogy wish to attack it all the more, “You’re stronger than the others, I will admit –and faster than I thought; but I think I can win.” The King Boogy stomped the ground, earth shaking as it did so, “Insolent brat! I will crush your bones and break your body! I will see you bleeding on the ground before me, admitting my greatness and pleading for a quicker death!” It growled lightly, again lowering its head, “And if I am in a generous mood by then, I may grant you that.” The beast charged, swinging its head, snapping its beak and sending spikes whirling at the fighter in a series of attacks back to front; but the nimble fighter was too quick, and dodged all of the slow Boogy’s strikes. The fighter took an arrogant stance, “And if I’M feeling generous when this is over, my friends and I will give you a decent burial after I gut your body and take back the key you swallowed.” The turtle hissed in reply, “You and your ‘friends’ will not live to see my death; indeed you will not live to see this day’s end!” Its words echoed in its head, “Friends….The fighter’s friends.” The King Boogy’s eyes suddenly widened, its head snapping around behind it and looking at the ground. There, in the branches of the fallen tree, a cleric was trying to help the archer get free; it turned back, glaring at the fighter, whose face was now one of shock and worry, “So that was his plan; keep me occupied while his cleric friend freed his archer friend. A nice plan –too bad he mentioned his friends while taunting me to keep my attention.”

The enormous Boogy turned toward the cleric and archer –who both took notice of the large beast’s sudden change in direction. The cleric began pulling franticly at branches, trying to break them as the archer continued trying to squirm free of the ones that remained. Tianxia lunged after the King Boogy, plunging his sword into the beast’s back right leg. The Boogy snorted as the blade sank in, stopped momentarily, then kicked back, sending fighter and sword tumbling across the ground. The Boogy returned its attention to the other two adventurers, whose eyes seemed to grow larger with each step the Boogy took toward them. With a loud battle cry, Tianxia appeared again, charging from the front right; the King Boogy swung its head to meet the fighter, who dodged the slow attack, only to spin into the follow-up kick and once again tumble away from the large turtle-beast. The King Boogy grinned as its front foot again stepped onto the trunk of the collapsed tree, the archer groaned in pain as the weight on her chest and legs suddenly increased. It continued to walk forward; then stopped as it felt a new weight on its back. It turned to look, and saw the fighter trying to use its spikes to climb up its shell. “Audacious brat!” the beast growled, shaking its shell back and forth, “Get your filthy and unworthy hands off of my shell!” The fighter held fast as the beast threw its weight around, continuing to climb higher until he reached the top of the king’s shell. “You want me to get down,” the fighter taunted, “Then you MAKE me get down!” The Boogy glared at the fighter, shaking a few times, spinning half a dozen more, then snorting, “Fine! So I cannot dislodge you! This changes nothing in terms of the outcome of this fight!” It turned back to face the cleric and still-trapped archer, “You will simply have a better view as I finish your friends!”

The King Boogy’s laughter was cut short, ending in a surprised roar as its vision suddenly went dark, a sharp pain entering the side of its jaw –Tianxia had jumped from the top of the King Boogy’s shell onto its head, using a blanket to cover both its eyes, and jabbing his sword into the Boogy’s right cheek as an anchoring point. “Roddimus!” Tianxia yelled as the King Boogy thrashed back and forth, swearing and roaring, “Get Kaya free NOW!” “I can’t!” the cleric shouted back, he and Kaya both tugging at a large branch, “These last few branches are too thick to break off and the tree’s too heavy to move!” Tianxia released his hold on his anchoring sword with one hand to recover the king’s left eye with the blanket –which had folded back during the great beast’s bucking. The large beast jumped, Tianxia briefly went airborne, letting out a loud “oof” as he landed on the king’s thick skull. “Uhn…then…use your mace to break it!” he groaned. Kaya looked up in astonishment, “What!?” Roddimus gave an incredulous glance as well, “I’ll break Kaya’s ribs if I do that!” The Boogy King thrashed again, slamming the top of its head against a tree branch, nearly knocking the wind out of the fighter clinging to its cranium. Tianxia’s mouth went wide to get a better breath of air before he shouted back, “Roddimus, you’re a cleric! If getting her loose hurts her then heal her after! But if she doesn’t get free soon this thing will kill her –I can’t stay on like this for too much long-ARG!” His sentence was punctuated as the King Boogy again slammed the top of his head –and the fighter on it- against a tree. The cleric looked down at the trapped archer, drawing his mace, “I’m sorry, Kaya.” He raised it above his head as she braced herself, “You…might want to look away.” She closed her eyes, turning her head to the side as her fingers dug into the branch; the cleric’s mace swiftly swung down in a heavy bash strike.

Tianxia tried to ignore the loud pain-filled shout from the side –more difficult than one would think, despite making many of the same noises himself as the large turtle-beast continued to smash him against trees, rocks –whatever it could find. The fighter clung on tenaciously until finally the Boogy slammed him full-on into a thick tree branch with enough force to shatter the branch –and Tianxia’s upper spine. With a gurgling cry Tianxia’s hands relaxed and lungs ceased to respond; the swing of the Boogy’s head flinging him eight meters away; landing with a crunch of branches and leaves on the forest floor in a motionless lump. The blanket fell from the large beast’s head, the angry monster giving a great roar as it turned toward the crumpled form of the fighter. It stomped toward its opponent; seeing the fighter unable to move to attack or defend, and sneered, “Brash fool; I told you you could not defeat me. Now you see the price of your folly: you lie before me, body mangled and bones crushed, unable to even speak –only able to pray for a swifter end!” The fighter gurgled slightly in reply as the King Boogy raised one of its massive feet, “And I think I will grant you that.” An arrow silently flew through the air, plunging into the soft skin of the side of the turtle-beast’s neck; a strong poison flowing through its veins. The large beast shrugged its head a few times, clearing its vision, knowing that the freed archer was trying to attract its attention to save the fighter, “Your friends will not help you,” it hissed, “You may die knowing that I will kill them much faster than you!” It raised its foot again, preparing to crush the small fighter, as its foot descended, the fighter’s body glowed a bright blue; and in a flash the fighter rolled out from beneath the Boogy and got to his feet, dashing forward and grabbing the blade still lodged in the King Boogy’s right cheek.

Tianxia spun away, pulling his blade free as the large beast again roared in pain; then stepped out as he continued his spin, ducking beneath the Boogy’s massive beak, and thrusting his blade up into the underside of the King Boogy’s neck. He pulled back as hard as he could in an attempt to widen the wound, but the Boogy pulled his head back and escaped a mortal blow. The Boogy lunged forward, snapping its beak at the fighter, narrowly missing its attack and dodging the return attack from the sword, feeling the small pricks of arrows embedding themselves in its flank. It spun toward the archer, the fighter moving forward to intercept, then spun back around, lunging at the fighter –who had fallen flatfooted for the feint attack. A massive spike struck Tianxia in the shoulder, creating a wide gash as the Boogy’s head came around, slamming into his chest and knocking him back into a tree where he fell to the ground, momentarily stunned. The Boogy stomped over, every intent of capitalizing on its plan’s success and finishing off the annoying fighter; but the combination of constant poison from the archer and bloodloss from the wounds in its neck and cheek proved to be too great –with a groan its legs gave out and the large beast fell to the floor with a great crash. The fighter got to his feet as the other two adventurers moved to either side of him; approaching the dieing creature. The King Boogy lifted its head, lunging slowly once more at the fighter, who stepped backwards, easily avoiding the strike. The beast’s head thumped to the ground, lacking to strength to hold it up any longer, the fighter regarded him, “You said you would grant me a quick death…allow me to return the favor.” The fighter walked past the large beast’s beak, then raised his blade; with a spinning strike to gain momentum, he thrust his blade through the King Boogy’s left eye socket and out the right –the King Boogy’s breathing halted, and the forest went quiet once more.

Tianxia pulled his blade free and moved to the beast’s belly, which he cut open. He rummaged briefly through the contents that spilled to the ground before straightening up, a slime-covered key in his hand. Tianxia smiled and turned toward his friends, “All right! Now let’s go return this to Sean!” He turned in the direction of the forest’s center and began to wander off; Kaya and Roddimus standing silent for a moment, then exchanging uncertain glances with each other. “After all that,” Kaya murmered, “He acts like he has enough energy to fight another of those things.” Roddimus nodded slightly, “That fighter is completely crazy…glad he’s on our side.” “Yo!” came the call from ahead of them, they turned to see Tianxia standing a good twenty meters away, looking back at them, “You guys coming or what? Hurry up or I won’t show you anything else I found in that thing’s stomach!” “Keep it! I don’t think I want to know!” Roddimus shouted back. “Well that’s your choice,” Tianxia answered with a wry grin, “But just remember: it WAS your turn this time and YOU gave it up –so no complaining!” The cleric’s eyes widened, “Wait! What? What did you find?” Tianxia laughed and ran ahead, “Too late! It’s mine now -after you it’s my turn!” Roddimus tore off after him, “Wait! Tianxia! What did you find? Show me! Tian-xiaaa!”

Orchids_Mantis

09-20-2009, 05:00 AM

Chapter 8: The Realm of Shadows

Sean’s face was one of surprise as the trio of adventurers returned; holding a small copper key with triumphant faces. “I don’t believe it,” he thought, “They actually DEFEATED the King Boogy?” He tried hard to cover his astonishment –lest he reveal that the whole thing had been a setup, a final trial given to any adventurer before allowing them access to the cave. He cleared his throat as the fighter, Tianxia, walked up to him, “I see you have recovered the Shadow Key. Good work, young fighter –you have my gratitude.” He reached out and took the key, cringing slightly at feeling the disgusting oozy slime still covering it. He placed a hand on the fighter’s shoulder –to draw attention away from his other hand moving into his pocket, depositing the key the fighter had found and withdrawing another key (even for this trial he would never actually take a risk like allowing the true Shadow Key to part with him), “Indeed, a dark time would have befallen us all were a monster to gain entry to this cave.” He looked up at the darkening sky, “The sun is setting, and you must be incredibly tired after fighting all day. Perhaps you should take the night to rest up before entering the cave yourself.” The jaws of Kaya, Roddimus and even Sean all dropped slightly as Tianxia shook his head, “No; I would rather go in tonight –I have all of tomorrow to be tired.” Sean peered at the fighter, “Are you sure? If you wish to enter you may; but I remind you that what lies inside is very strong and deadly –fighting it fatigued is not recommended.” Tianxia gave a confidant grin, “Yeah, I’m sure.” The Grand Master’s eyebrows rose slightly as he nodded back, “Very well then. Make your preparations, Tianxia –I recommend recharging your soul stones and taking a short rest at the very least. Come back when you feel you are ready; I will wait here for you to return.”

Tianxia nodded and made his way back to Rumen, where quickly recharged his soul stones, did a few errands and bought a few potions and other various trinkets before returning to the Forest of Mist. It was well after dark when he arrived again –Sean, Kaya and Roddimus all waiting for him. Sean raised his chin slightly as the fighter again walked up to him, “Are you prepared?” Tianxia nodded in reply, the guardsman nodded back, “I see. Very well, then.” Grand Master Sean turned around, facing the large doors behind him, and unlocked them. The old heavy barriers groaned and creaked as they opened up, revealing a consuming darkness beyond them. Sean turned back toward the fighter, “I cannot tell you what lies beyond, fighter; but I can tell you to use caution. And to always be alert when inside the Shadow Cave.” Tianxia looked back at his friends, standing a few meters away. Kaya nodded at him, Roddimus made a fist and curled it back, “Get back here quickly, Tianxia –we have to finish our quest tomorrow.” The blue-haired fighter grinned at the comment and returned the gesture, stepping into the doorway and vanishing instantly.

Upon stepping through the doorway, all light was immediately consumed. Tianxia stopped walking –he’d learned early on that walking while blinded did not tend to yield good results, and waited for his eyes to adjust. He waited for what seemed like a few minutes, then a ring of dim torches around the room he was in dimly flared to life. “The center?” Tianxia thought as he looked around the three meter by three meter room, “I’m in the center after one step? That doorway must have been a gateway linked to the cave, not the actual cave entrance itself.” He looked behind himself, seeing that there was no door or gateway behind him, only a doorway into a darkened hall in front of him, “No gateway behind me means there is no going back, only forward…this feels very familiar for some reason.” A voice echoed through the hallway, “Who are you?” Tianxia’s head snapped forward as he tried to locate the source of the voice, he barely made out the silhouette of a man standing deep within the dark hallway. Tianxia narrowed his eyes as he peered into the darkness, “My name is Li Tianxia.” There was a pause before the voice replied, “Yes…I know you…why are you here?” “I came to…I came to become stronger,” he answered, “I was told that there was a way to gain great strength in here.” The being began walking toward him, darkness still covering his face and body –but Tianxia could make out the shape of a blade in the being’s right hand, “You came seeking power?” Tianxia straightened, hand moving back and resting on the hilt of his sheathed sword, “Yes.”

Tianxia’s eyes widened, his breath catching in his throat as the being stepped into the dim light –it was as though he were staring into a mirror; a human with his face, his hair, his armor –even his sword, was standing before him! The being looked at Tianxia, frowning, “So…you came seeking my power.” Its eyes flicked up and down as it looked Tianxia over, a sneer appearing on its face, “You are pathetic.” Tianxia drew his blade slightly as the mirror image continued, “You do not deserve to have my strength.” The shadow being’s eyes narrowed, “You do not deserve to walk the outside world with your name.” It raised its blade as it took a fighting stance, “You are the one that should be trapped in here, not me. I will defeat you here; and leave you in this prison as I walk free in your world.” Tianxia finished unsheathing his sword and stepped into a fighting stance as well, “I do not know who you are; but I will defeat you if you attack me.” The other being grinned, “You may call me Shadow –at least until I defeat you, then it is I who will call you Shadow.”

The two fighters stood for a moment, swords drawn in mirror stances; each waiting for the other to attack; while at the same time planning an attack of their own. The shadow struck first; with dazzling speed his blade flickered only briefly in the dim light as it swung around at Tianxia’s neck. Tianxia stepped back, allowing the blade to pass through the air in front of him, then stepped forward and swung his sword out, knocking the back of Shadow’s blade with his own, adding force to the strike and sending the shadow-being’s arms to the side –leaving him undefended. In the brief opening, Tianxia closed in, slamming his elbow into Shadow’s face with an audible crunch. The double lurched backwards with a surprised grunt, grabbing at his nose. The doppelganger froze, glaring at the other fighter, “You’re bedder dedI egspegded, Li Dyadsya.” The shadow being twisted his hand and grunted, a popping sound echoed lightly as he pushed his nose back in place. The doppelganger lowered his hand, palm and face covered with blood from the broken nose, and nodded slightly, “Or at least you are faster than I thought you’d be. Let’s see how good you are.” The fiend spit out some of the blood that had made its way into his mouth and grinned, backing into the dark hallway where the shadows quickly concealed him. “Go the final chamber of this cursed cave,” came the voice from the small corridor, “I will face you there –if you are capable of even getting that far.” The shadow being’s laughter echoed down the dark hallway, growing faint as Tianxia began walking forward into the Shadow Cave.

His footfalls echoed softly off of the dark stone walls in the dank hallway; dim torches like those that surrounded the first room lined either side of the two walls. Tianxia stopped as he neared a blind turn, hearing a light snickering sound from around the corner. He drew his blade, eyes narrowing slightly as he peered into the darkness, “Who’s there?” His answer came as two large Kebing, floating beasts with large green heads, yellow eyes and short stubby hands floated around the corner, chuckling to each other. Tianxia raised his eyebrows, sword dropping slightly, “Kebing? He sends after me a few Kebing? I think I’m being insulted.” The floating beasts stopped laughing at the fighter’s remark, lowering their large heads and charging forward as flying battering rams. Reacting quickly Tianxia took a wide step forward and to the side, ducking low beneath the charging Kebing. As they passed he spun and brought his sword around, slicing at their flanks, but only managing to cut into the small white robes that they had draped around their bodies. Tianxia stood up as the two beasts charged again; the fighter dodged to the side and spun to avoid the first Kebing, lining up perfectly for a shot at the floating beast’s back; then spit out a curse as the second Kebing –which had slowed down at some point- slammed its skull into his back and knocked him to the floor.

Annoyed at the embarrassment of a Kebing having gotten the better of him at any point in a fight, Tianxia got back to his feet, gritting his teeth. The two Kebing, meanwhile, were floating over by the corner of the hallway again, laughing to each other at the fighter’s sudden change in mood. “Funny guys, huh?” Tianxia growled through his clenched teeth, “See if you think this is funny!” The fighter charged, taking advantage of the distracted Kebing and thrusting his blade forward. The Kebing were taken by surprise, but they managed to see the attack with just enough time to split up and avoid Tianxia’s attack. Moving between the two diverging Kebing, Tianxia stomped hard on his right foot, planting it solidly on the ground and rotating; he stepped out with his left foot and raised his blade high, then swung it down and stepped forward, bringing his blade through the back of the first Kebing. As the first Kebing fell to the ground, Tianxia allowed his blade to carry over and down, rotating his shoulders to follow, then stepped out with his back foot, spinning and bringing his whole body around, blade whipping out in a wide circle; the second Kebing which had been charging from behind tried desperately to halt, giving a light shriek as the blade slipped across its chest. Stepping through and bringing his sword forward, Tianxia thrust at the floating beast, but the nimble creature floated above the blade, then dashed forward lashing out with its stubby arms as it passed, landing several very strong blows. Annoyed at the beast’s second successful attack against him, Tianxia spun around with a growl, slicing at the Kebing’s chest; too close in to dodge this time, the sword passed through the beast’s clothing, and into its body; the white robe turning a dark red as the Kebing fell to the floor unmoving. Sheathing his blade again, Tianxia stepped over the Kebing’s body, continuing deeper into the cave.

After another twenty meters, the hallway came to an end with two very large doors; which opened slowly and silently upon his arrival. Tianxia stepped through, into a large chamber with much better lighting than the hallway; and standing in the back in front of another set of open doors, was Shadow. “I see you made it to the first chamber,” he grinned as Tianxia reached for the hilt of his sword, “Well, that shows you have the strength of at least my left thumb.” “After what I did to your nose, I should think you would be careful about calling me weak –as it also makes a comment about you,” Tianxia grinned back. The shadow’s grin faded slightly, “I hope you did not have too much trouble getting past those two Kebing.” Not at all,” he shrugged back, “The warm up was quite welcome, in fact.” The mirror’s grin returned even larger as it lowered its head slightly, “That’s good. Because if you’d had a hard time besting the Kebing…” There was a light twang of string, Tianxia yelled and fell to the ground as an arrow thrust itself into his calf just above his ankle. He looked to the side to see a Skeleton Archer and two sword-wielding Skeleton Fighters approaching him, and another set of the same approaching from the other side. “Then there’d be no way you could defeat these guys,” the shadow finished as he spread his hands. The skeletons all stopped, looking over at the doppelganger, who gave an evil smile and nodded. He looked back at Tianxia, “If you manage to survive, I will be in the central chamber.” The shadow laughed and walked away, the large doors in both sides of the chamber slamming shut and clicking locked. The skeletal beings looked at the door which the shadow had left from for a moment, then turned back to face Tianxia; the archers placing arrows in their bows and drawing the strings back. Tianxia pulled the arrow from his leg and used a charge from his soul stone, shaking his head in annoyance, “I hate archers.”

Orchids_Mantis

09-20-2009, 05:03 AM

Chapter 8: The Realm of Shadows

He stayed crouched to the ground, watching the Skeleton Archers draw their bows back. He waited. It was agonizing, one second stretching out for an eternity after the next; then finally, their hands twitched, fingers relaxed, the wood of the bow sprang back to shape and the arrows shot forwards; slamming into the ground where the fighter had been sitting. Tianxia jump-rolled forward, hoping to dodge the first volley; as he got to his feet he saw he indeed had, and made for his first targets. The Skeleton archer’s mouth opened as the fighter closed in rapidly, leaning back and bringing its bow around to fend off the attack that was sure to come; only to find to its amazement that the fighter completely ignored it, opting instead to attack the two Skeleton Fighters a short distance behind it. His blade flickered twice in the chamber’s light, singing softly as it sped from side to side in Tianxia’s hands; and the two sword-wielders quickly fell.

Tianxia turned with a grin –he had anticipated the Skeletons thinking he’d target the archers first, and indeed they were a threat, but they were not the greater threat. To his mind, the greater threat came from the distraction the sword-wielders would provide if they closed in while the archers took time to attack him from outside his field of vision. “Besides,” he mused, “That attack caught them fully flat-footed; and now that there are fewer enemies to try and swarm me, the fight will be much easier.” Ahead the archers drew their bows back again, aiming at the fighter. “Although,” he admitted to himself, “There is something to be said for killing the archers first.” He feinted to one side, the archers following, the first unleashing an arrow; Tianxia quickly dashed to the other side, dodging the first attack as the second fired again. Tianxia tucked and rolled forwards, arrow bouncing off the ground behind him; he got to his feet as he heard wood straining as it was bent back –the first archer was readying to fire again. He turned toward the archer, jumping and rolling to the side as the undead being loosed another arrow, which embedded itself in his inventory bag; not halting to remove it, he ducked and ran behind a pillar in the room as the second archer fired again, arrow striking the pillar dead-center. Tianxia took a deep breath to calm down, then slowly peered around the corner. There was a sharp twang as an archer spotted the fighter’s head; he ducked back behind the large stone post as the arrow bounced off of it; he gave a slight chuckle and shook his head, “This is the part where a shield would actually be useful.”

Footfalls from the bare-foot skeletons were easily heard clacking against the stone floor –they were spreading out to either side of the pillar he was standing behind -he was going to be uncovered and attacked from two sides very soon if he did not do something. Taking a deep breath, he readied himself for his next move. “This is going to be completely crazy,” he thought, “But then again, the crazy plans seem to work the best, because no one expects you to be dumb enough or crazy enough to try them.” He reached down, grabbing a few small rocks at the pillar’s base, and grinned, “Well…I’m never gonna know how it works until I try it.”

The Skeleton Archer sighted down its arrow, aimed at the pillar as it continued slowly stepping further and further to the side –eventually there would come a point where either it or the other archer would see and be able to attack the fighter cowering behind it. There was a small movement from the pillar, out to one side. The archer quickly shifted to aim at the source of the movement; the object clacked as it struck the ground, rolling across the rocky surface –it was just a small stone. The archer quickly swung its bow back around –surely the fighter meant to use the distraction in order to gain an opportunity to start moving in the other direction; it swung its bow back and across the pillar, searching for the fighter, who suddenly appeared from behind the pillar running in the same direction the rock had been thrown –it was a double feint. The archer halted its movement, then started to swing its bow back around, wondering if its partner had fallen for the trick as well. It had; the other archer –much closer to the pillar than it had been, was still trying to bring its bow back across to bear on the fighter as he raised his blade and sliced through the skeleton’s midriff. The Skeleton Archer’s lower arms, bow, arrow and upper torso fell to the floor; its legs stayed standing momentarily before they too collapsed.

The fighter did not stop at defeating the first archer –nor did he take cover once again. Instead he turned and continued to dash forward, now closing on the second archer; but there was no way the fighter could cover the eight meter distance before it was able to fire an arrow –this fighter had just made his last mistake. It continued bringing its bow around, then the fighter’s arm swung back as though to throw a weapon. The Skeleton Archer paused for a spilt second, “What? A ranged attack? Fighters don’t have ranged attacks! ….do they?” The fighter’s arm swung down and forward, the archer loosing its arrow early as it tried to block the incoming strike with its bow –another rock bounced off of its skull. It stared at the ground for a moment, rage welling up within, “A rock!? It attacks me with a rock!?” It grabbed another arrow from its quiver; placing it on the bowstring, “I swear to Legel I will…” the archer’s thoughts froze as it looked up to see the fighter only a few feet away;. There was a brief flash of metal, then the world turned black.

With the two archers out of the battle, the remaining two Skeleton Fighters died –as an undead being does- fast. Tianxia sheathed his sword with a grin, then thought for a moment, “You know…maybe I SHOULD have killed that archer first, rather than the two sword-wielders.” He thought about this for a minute, then shrugged, “Ah well. No use thinking about that now, I’ll just kill the archers first next time if he uses them again.” He looked around at the room, at the doors on one side, and the same style of doors on the other. He looked back and forth between the two doors, uncertain. “Umm…which way did I come in again?” he asked no one in particular. His answer came as one set of the doors slowly swung open, revealing a dark passageway behind it. “Ah,” he said as he looked into the dark hallway beyond them, “I guess I’m supposed to go this way.”

As he passed the large doors they swung shut and locked behind him, leaving him in pitch-black darkness. He walked forward a few steps, grunting as he struck a wall. “Okay,” his voice echoed in the darkness, “Is this the test of ‘how long does it take you to get out of a room with no light’ or something?” “Hardly,” a voice answered. A blue beam of light shot through the passage, bouncing off of mirrors placed along the sides which revealed a hallway with several twists and turns. Tianxia began following the light from mirror to mirror, looking for the exit. “You are reaching the end, Tianxia, in more ways than one,” his shadow taunted. “What do you mean by that?” he asked half-caring. “There are three ends: soon you will reach the first end: the end of the path; and once you do you will find the second end: I will kill you” his shadow replied, “Or you can sit in there for about ten minutes and find the third end: This cave sending you back to the outside world…or did you not know there was a limit to how long you are allowed to be in here?” “Actually I didn’t,” he thought to himself as he reached another turn, the light showing him into another large chamber. He saw the source of the light, a large gem on a pedestal in the back, and moved toward it. “You’re forgetting the fourth end,” he taunted back as he reached the crystal, “The one where I kill you then go back myself.” The crystal suddenly glowed red, the room lighting up; he turned to see Shadow standing at the room’s entrance with a bandit swordsman and bandit archer on either side of him. “No, I didn’t,” his shadow grinned at the fighter, as a large golem made of stone stomped up to stand behind him, “It is just not a probability.” The shadow sheathed his sword, looking back at the henchmen surrounding him, then made a lazy gesture at Tianxia, “Kill ‘im.”

The archer drew her bow, stepping to the side as the swordsman and golem moved forward. Tianxia ran forward, tip of his sword scraping across the ground as he raced to meet the incoming enemies. The swordsman reached him first, swinging his five foot long blade around and down, slamming the weapon into the ground where the fighter once stood. Tianxia had not even paused at the attack, he continued running for two paces then jumped into the air, landing on the Golem’s knee. The bandit turned to spot his target as Tianxia spun and jumped again, landing this time on the bandit’s shoulders, an arrow skipping off of the stone golem’s leg. The golem swung its large club down at Tianxia, who quickly pushed off as he jumped once more. As Tianxia landed on the Golem’s shoulder the bandit swordsman let out a yell, then went silent as the clumsy golem’s club smashed into him. Tianxia grinned as he jumped from the large stone beast’s shoulders and onto its head, another arrow impacting where he had just been standing; then rotated and leapt forward with all his strength, bringing up his sword as he fell toward the astounded archer and shadow. Tianxia landed, bringing his blade down and through the archer’s body as he did so; he rose and spun to face the golem as the bandit fell in two directions at once. The large stone golem closed on the fighter with only three large strides, but on the fourth, the golem found the fighter had moved behind it. The stone beast turned to face Tianxia, rotating about its left leg –or at least, intending to; instead the upper three fourths of the leg rotated around the lower quarter, along the neat slice that Tianxia had put into its leg as he ran beneath it. Not expecting the change, and not even able to conceive of what to do about it, the great stone monster lost its balance and fell to the ground with the sound of a small avalanche; its hands and body –not meant to absorb the impact of such a fall- cracked and crumbled as it impacted the stone floor.

The shadow looked on, raising an eyebrow at the quick defeat its minions had suffered. “That…went faster than I had expected,” it admitted softly. Tianxia turned back to face the shadow, a large grin spread across his face. He lifted his sword, pointing it at the shadow, “So; any more for me to play with or are you actually fighting now?” The shadow gave a small grin in return as he unsheathed his sword, “No, no. No more minions. From here on out it will just be me killing you.” Tianxia began walking forward, the shadow doing likewise, “Or me killing you,” he replied. The shadow’s grin grew larger, “Unlikely.” Shadow raised his blade and struck, Tianxia swung out with his own, the metal clanging as the blades met with great force, locking together. Swords holding against each other, Tianxia pushed in a short wrestling match between the two fighters, done to gauge strength and exchange remarks –a prelude to actual combat that many fighters enjoyed. Tianxia flashed his teeth, “I see you cleaned up a bit.” The shadow being tilted his head, “What?” “Your face, there’s no blood on it anymore,” Tianxia replied, “You cleaned it off.” The shadow snickered, “Hehe, yeah. Sorry, but you’ve already seen all the blood on me that you will ever see.” Tianxia chuckled in reply, “We’ll see about that. I hope it doesn’t hurt too bad –we wouldn’t want you getting distracted in our fight or anything.” The shadow’s grin fell, “Enough bantering…I’m tired of this game.” With a sudden surge the doppelganger pushed forward, knocking Tianxia back. The shadow-being’s grin returned, an evil smile with obvious intentions behind it, “Time for you to die, Shadow!”

“So I can’t match you in power,” Tianxia said as he regained his balance, “Still, there’s more to fighting than brute strength.” The shadow chuckled, “Yes, there’s always running away and hiding. Those would be quite beneficial to you right now.” Tianxia dashed forward, slicing at the Shadow; his opponent’s blade rose up to meet his own in a fierce strike; blades reverberating as they impacted. The sword moved slightly in his hand, trying to come free; Tianxia spun away with the impact, stepping back and again raising his weapon as he narrowed his eyes, “That move…that was no block. He was attacking, trying to knock my sword out of my grip.” Tianxia charged again, bringing his blade up and across. The shadow stepped back as Tianxia swung, bringing his blade up behind Tianxia’s knocking it farther up and guiding it across. “Carrying of motion,” the shadow said darkly as his guiding strike forced Tianxia to over-rotate, giving him a swift kick in the back to knock him away. Tianxia’s eyes widened as he halted, spinning on his heel to face his enemy, “What did you say?”

Orchids_Mantis

09-23-2009, 03:24 AM

Chapter 8: The Realm of Shadows

The twisted being’s answer was to charge in, swinging his blade down and in; Tianxia raised his blade to meet it in a counter strike, breath catching in his throat as the shadow relaxed his grip, blade falling beneath Tianxia’s, “Misdirection.” The shadow planted his foot and regripped his blade, halting his movement as Tianxia tried desperately to halt his own. Shadow stapped back across, blade extending in a slice at Tianxia’s middle, “And surprise!” Tianxia flicked his wrist, spinning his sword and grabbing the hilt from the other direction, blade now running down the length of his arm. Swiftly, Tianxia swung his arm straight down, catching the shadow-being’s blade on his own, using his now-armored arm to halt the blade mere inches from his chest. The blades sat pressed against each other, ringing lightly from the impact of the two steel weapons, Shadow grinned, staring into Tianxia’s surprised eyes, “Looks like I made you block.” Tianxia’s mouth hung open a moment as he panted, glaring at his opponent, “Where did you learn that style?” The shadow’s smile grew more sinister, “You haven’t figured it out, have you? I don’t just look like you –I AM you. Everything you know, I know. Everything you have learned, I have learned. The only difference between us is that I am clearly the stronger of us –and thus, the one that will be leaving here alive.”

Tianxia roared, pressing forward and switching his grip on his sword again; unleashing a chain of strong, furious and lightning-fast attacks. Smiling, the shadow dodged and blocked or dodged every strike, every slash and every thrust that Tianxia made. Tianxia thrust forward, the double side-stepping to avoid the strike, then stepped in, palm outstretched, smashing Tianxia in the face and knocking him back. Not halting to wipe the blood from his nose that was quickly covering his lower face, Tianxia thrust in again; this time the shadow knocked his blade aside, spun, and sliced across his back. Tianxia yelled as the cold steel slashed through his leather armor and into his flesh, leaving what felt like a trail of fire from his left shoulder blade to the middle of his ribs on the right. He staggered forward, smacking into a large stone column; he turned to rest against it, sucking in a breath through clenched teeth as the arrow lodged in his inventory bag pressed against him. “You can’t best me, Tianxia,” the shadow jeered, “I am stronger than you, and I match you in knowledge and technique –and I think we both have seen how misdirection and surprise go between us.” The shadow paused for a moment to let the reality of the situation sink in before continuing, “Why not just give up and make this easier on both of us?” “Giving up,” he thought, “That’d be a real surprise for him.” An idea hit him like a bolt of lightning, and he grinned in his mind, “And maybe more.”

He reached into his bag and used a charge from his soul stone, pointed his sword at the shadow, then dropped it, spreading his hands out to his sides slightly. The shadow’s eyes widened as the sword clattered to the ground. “You’re right,” Tianxia said, lowering his eyes as he kicked the weapon away from himself, “I can’t best you with a sword.” The shadow stopped for a minute, as though trying to contemplate whether this could be a trap; but unable to think of any way disarming would benefit him, he grew confident and started toward Tianxia, “Well; I will admit this move I certainly didn’t see coming.” “Come a little closer and I’ll show you another move you didn’t see coming,” Tianxia thought darkly. “It was a fun fight, Tianxia,” the shadow continued, “But let’s face it: you never stood a chance against me.” Tianxia looked away slightly, as the shadow-being continued forward. “Great…he’s monologing,” he thought, “Shut up and attack already so I can kill you.” Shadow stopped little more than a meter away from Tianxia, pointing his sword at Tianxia’s chest, “Don’t worry: I’ll make it quick.” Tianxia grinned in his mind again, “So will I.” The shadow charged forward, Tianxia looked up and smirked, “Misdirection!”

The shadow’s eyes widened as Tianxia moved forward, skirting the edge of the blade and spinning; as he spun he reached to his side, yanking the arrow from his bag and grabbing it like a dagger, which he then planted in the upper part of the shadow’s right shoulder, between the shoulder bone and collar bone, “Surprise!” The shadow yelled as the arrowhead burrowed into his flesh, involuntarily dropping his sword at the sudden pain. Tianxia kicked at the shadow’s back, knocking him forward past his dropped weapon, which he then scooped up himself, “Carrying of motion!” The shadow stopped, yanking the arrow free and turning with a face of pure rage; a face which quickly dissipated into another emotion as it found a sword at its throat. “Surprise again,” Tianxia spoke as he held the blade up to the shadow. The shadow recovered from its surprise and looked in confusion at Tianxia. “Stronger, and equal in all other areas,” the shadow spit out, “Yet you still managed to pull this off.” “You may be stronger than me,” Tianxia said slowly, “But you are arrogant and prideful; which makes you very susceptible to flattery and tricks, which gives your opponent an advantage no matter how strong you are.” The shadow shut his eyes, and Tianxia thrust the blade forward. With a soft thump, the doppelganger’s body fell to the ground.

Tianxia retrieved his true sword, discarding the one the shadow had carried, and returned it to its sheath. As he finished the room brightened; light consuming everything; when the light dimmed he found himself once again standing before Grand Master Sean. “Well, I see you have passed the trials of the Shadow Cave,” the Grand Master smiled, “I congratulate you, Tianxia. Your actions have earned you the right to the title Clever Fighter.” He pointed to the ground to his side, at which lay a short sword, a heavy long sword, and a large axe, “And, it allows you the ability to use weapons of greater power than the one you currently carry. As reward for passing your trial; I will allow you one of these weapons without fee. Choose between them.” Tianxia grinned as he looked at the weapons –there was no choosing, he knew from the second he saw the weapons which he wanted. “The sword,” he replied, “The big sword.” Sean smiled back at him as he handed the fighter the weapon, “I had a feeling you’d choose that one.” Tianxia held the heavy weapon, looking up at its sleek curves and sharp blade. “This,” he thought, “Will be fun.” He turned to the side, walking toward Kaya and Roddimus, who ran forward to greet and congratulate him.

Orchids_Mantis

09-24-2009, 02:14 AM

Chapter 9: Massacre in the Underground Square

Time passed quickly; Kaya and Roddimus soon joined the ranks of those adventurers that had taken and passed the trials of the Shadow Cave by Shutian. They began training in new areas, farther from the port city of Rumen, closer to Elderine and Uruga –areas where the monsters that dwelled within were much stronger, and a great deal deadlier. Months passed with no seeming change in season as Tianxia and his friends continued to train and become stronger.

With a sound like shattering glass, giant spikes of ice erupted from the moss-covered ground; Tianxia landed on his back with a muffled thump as he dove to the side. The fighter quickly got to his feet and searched for his target, spying the vapor-beast floating toward him –raising its hands as it prepared another deadly magic assault. The element-beast’s eyes –hollow points in the vapor- narrowed as the white energy crackled in its dark blue hands. The Ice Vivi threw its hands forward, the fighter rolled again, expecting the attack to once more be one of turning the ground beneath him into blades of ice; this time, though, the Vivi had another idea in mind. The Vivi halted its hands just for a moment as the fighter moved, following the fighter –who had dodged the last several attacks, then released the energy as the sword-wielding human stood. Tianxia spat out a loud curse as the energy slammed into his shoulder, a heavy sheet of ice quickly spreading across his body as the Vivi’s attack –designed to reduce a target’s agility- took effect. Tianxia grit his teeth, which were starting to chatter from the cold of the ice, “Aw crap…I’ve been ‘slowed’.” The Vivi raised its hands again, Tianxia tried to move, but the weight and sheer cold of the ice was hindering his ability to do so. He winced as the ethereal blast left the monster’s hands, “This one’s gonna sting.” The ground beneath him sprouted a bush of spike-tipped ice shards, which buried themselves into Tianxia’s left foot and leg; Tianxia shouted as the cold spears ran through his limb. As quickly as the cold weapons appeared, they vanished, and Tianxia fell to the ground; the blue vapor seeming to grin as it raised its hands to finish off the wounded fighter.

“Tianxia!” he looked up at the cleric that had suddenly noticed his predicament, then looked back at the Vivi, which seemed not to care as it threw its hands forward –after all, even if the cleric healed the fighter, there was no way he’d be able to dodge the attack. The ball of energy sailed forward at the downed fighter; Tianxia shut his eyes as the magic attack closed in –smashing into an invisible shield bare centimeters in front of the fighter’s face. Tianxia’s body glowed a light blue, the gaping holes from the ice shards that had been nailed through his leg disappeared as the cleric cast a healing spell. Another ball of energy slammed into the barrier that had been cast on Tianxia; who got to his feet and started moving slowly toward the vaporous Ice Vivi, followed by another, and yet another. As the fourth bolt slammed against the invisible shield, the air around Tianxia shimmered –the barrier had run out of energy and could no longer block attacks. Tianxia swung his sword into the Ice Vivi, growling as it missed its mark; the Vivi turning and floating away from the fighter to gain distance.

Vivi, an elemental ghost creature, differed from the other undead-type beasts such as zombies in a very important way: Mage Books, Zombies, Skeletons, Grave Wolves, Magic Staves, Flying Staves and Tomb Foxes were all spirits that possessed a physical entity and used it as a body; if one attacked and severely damaged –or destroyed all of or the correct parts of- the body they inhabited, you could disrupt the possession and the creature would fall. The spirit, weakened from being forced out of the possessed body, would then flee to a place it deemed safe to rest and recover until it found itself strong enough to possess yet another form. Elemental ghosts, such as Ice Vivi, did not possess a body; they instead created a body for themselves: a crystal which floated somewhere inside of the body, hidden by the vaporous mist they emanated. These crystals usually became charged to an element –the majority were fire, water or lightning- which they would draw upon to attack. The misty outer body that they had could not be harmed –after all, it was just mist- elemental ghosts could only be killed by breaking the crystal inside the beast.

Tianxia strained, trying to catch up to the Vivi as it moved away –thankfully, Vivi were not able to “kite” (the term for attacking from a range while moving away) their spells. Nonetheless, slowed as he was Tianxia was losing ground and soon the creature would once again have several seconds to attack the fighter before he managed to get in close enough to use his sword. The Ice Vivi halted, turning toward the fighter and raised its hands, magical energies sparking to life in its vaporous fingers. The ice on Tianxia’s body suddenly melted; without the sheet of frozen water weighing him down, he quickly closed the gap between him and the Vivi. He swung his sword and dashed to the side; he felt the blade impact something in the beast’s misty body. The Vivi flailed, hissing in pain as a small chip of crystal fell to the ground; then lashed out, sending a bolt of energy at the fighter. Too close in to dodge, the blast of ice magic exploded against the left side of his chest, sending him flying to the ground on his back, a large section of his chest armor gone –as was a bit of the chest which had been beneath it. Wracked with pain, Tianxia strained to look up as once more bluish white energy crackled in the Vivi’s hands. As a small reddish puff of smoke traced a line from somewhere outside of Tianxia’s line of sight to the Vivi’s torso, the Ice Vivi raised its arms, then vanished in a fiery explosion.

Tianxia’s body glowed bright blue once again as his wounds closed; and the fighter got to his feet. Blue-lipped and teeth still chattering from the cold of the ice that had been clinging to his body, he turned to look at the archer running toward him. He gave a light “oof” as Kaya slammed into him with a strong embrace, “Tianxia! Are you alright?” He nodded, “I’m f-f-fine Kaya. Just a l-l-l-little c-cold right now.” He paused, looking behind her, at the bodies of the two large Bats that she and the cleric had been attacking while he faced off against the Vivi. “Sorry about that, Tianxia,” the cleric said from behind Kaya, “I guess I wasn’t paying good enough attention.” Tianxia shrugged, “It h-happens. N-n-no worries,” The cleric nodded, “Guess it was a lucky thing about that mage showing up, huh?” Tianxia turned to the side, looking at the grinning mage walking up to the group of adventurers; he nodded at the spell caster, “Th-thanks for the help, Bro.” The mage grinned, “Anytime, Tianxia.” “Wait a minute!” the cleric shouted, “You have a brother!?”

Orchids_Mantis

09-24-2009, 02:19 AM

Chapter 9: Massacre in the Underground Square

The mage grinned larger, “You know…every time I see you it seems you’re biting off more than you should be trying to chew.” Tianxia shrugged, blue lips turning up in a smile, “H-habit, I guess.” “Yo!” the cleric shouted, “Why didn’t I know you had a brother!?” “He doesn’t,” Kaya answered as Tianxia chuckled a bit; the cleric looked back at her, clearly confused. The mage regarded the cleric as though he were looking at a puppy, then glanced over at Tianxia, “Who’s the new guy?” Tianxia took a deep breath, straightening as his shivering ended, “That…is Trey.” “Trey?” the mage repeated, “What happened to Roddimus?” Tianxia’s shoulders sagged slightly at the mention of his old friend, then began to explain everything to the mage.

Tianxia and Kaya had, over the last few months, become a couple; their old friend Roddimus had left their group shortly after that particular development. He had said it was because the progress he was making had been so slow –and it was true that Roddimus’ leveling was a bit slower than Kaya’s or Tianxia’s at the time, but there had been patches of that happening before and Roddimus had stuck around. Tianxia had a feeling that Roddimus had felt like he was being excluded from the group with the development of Tianxia and Kaya’s relationship; as more and more Kaya and Tianxia talked to each other when outside of combat –Roddimus probably felt like he was only there to heal the couple when they fought (though this suspicion he kept to himself). While Tianxia had been sad to see his friend leave the group, he could not blame him for the decision.

Trey, the cleric that they trained with of late, they had met only two weeks ago, give or take three days. No peculiar or otherwise splendid circumstance surrounded the meeting; they just bumped into each other while on the way to train in Moonlight Tomb. Tianxia and Kaya had, since Roddimus’ departure, been having more difficulty than usual with training (they were not always able to handle the situations that Tianxia seemed to have a knack for finding himself in without Roddimus’ healing abilities to rely on); and Trey was a solo cleric that was bored with the slow grind of a solo cleric. They seemed to complement each other nicely; Trey was more than willing to stay back with Kaya and heal while Tianxia dealt the majority of the damage, and was also able to come forward and assist in adding damage with his refined hammer when enemies were taking a while or when enemies called for assistance from other nearby monsters.

“Ah,” the mage smiled at Tianxia’s explanation of the unknown cleric, “I see.” “I heard Tianxia call him ‘Bro’,” Trey said to Kaya, “Doesn’t ‘bro’ mean ‘brother’?” “In some cases, yes,” Kaya replied, “But here it does not. We call him ‘Bro’ as a name, not out of relation.” “So…his name is ‘Bro’,” Trey paraphrased. “Aww,” the mage made a face, “that took all my fun out of the introduction.” Trey looked over, still confused. Tianxia laughed lightly, “I’ll explain, Trey.”

Tianxia stretched a bit as he began, “It was a while ago –in this same area, actually. Kaya and I were training against a few Spiders and Bats…” “’A few’?” Bro interrupted, “You walked into the brush and disturbed a whole NEST of Spiders; there weren’t ‘a few’; there were like ten of them….PLUS the Bats.” Tianxia gave a sarcastic look at the mage, “Alright, fine…we got jumped and were fighting a freaking bunch of Spiders and then managed to somehow also attract the attention of several nearby Bats while doing so.” He looked back at the cleric as he continued, “I pulled out my scrolls and mocked to keep them off Kaya while using whatever regeneration potions I could to gain whatever advantage was possible; but I was taking too many hits too often –even combined with the scrolls and regen potions I had, my stones weren’t keeping up with the wounds I was getting.” He paused to take a breath, “I had managed to kill most of the Spiders…” “Ah-ah-ah,” Bro interrupted again, “’Most’ of the Spiders, Tianxia?” Tianxia made a face, “Fine…I had managed to kill SOME of the Spiders and Kaya had managed to kill a few of the Bats when one of the giant bugs used their poison attack on me. The poison’s effect combined with the continuous bites I was receiving from the Spiders and Bats was too much and I fell to the ground –that’s when a mage showed up.”

He looked over at the mage, “The mage used a few very strong attacks and managed to kill or wound enough of the Spiders to drive them away while Kaya finished off the last of the Bats. Then the mage I didn’t know handed me an antidote for the Spider’s poison, and I got up. Kaya and I thanked the mage and introduced ourselves; in turn, he nodded and said his name is….umm….,” Tianxia’s voice trailed off and he looked at the mage, “How exactly do you say your name, again?” The mage laughed, looking at Trey, “I said, ‘My name is Brojamgrlanik; but most people call me ‘Waytbrowut’ when they first meet me.’” Tianxia looked at Trey, “Naturally, I when I heard that I said, ‘Wait…Bro-what?’ To which he smiled and said…” “Exactly,” the grinning mage finished. Trey paused a moment, then his eyes widened, “Oooooh, I get it. Kinda funny.” “Yeah….kinda,” Tianxia made a face at the mage, Kaya chuckled, “That’s pretty much the same face you made then, too.” The mage and cleric began to laugh with the archer, Tianxia sighed and looked away. “What about Roddimus?” Trey asked. Tianxia looked back at him, “Huh?” “He said he knew Roddimus,” Trey clarified, “But he wasn’t there when you guys met?” Tianxia nodded, “Roddimus was visiting a few relatives that week; Bro met him later on.” “Ah, I see,” Trey nodded. “Anyways,” Tianxia said after a moment, “Since no one pronounces his name right, we just call him ‘Bro’ or ‘Brojam’.” Bro shrugged, “Eh…everyone does. I haven’t met anyone yet that calls my full name –either because they can’t or because it takes too long.” “We’ve bumped into each other a few times since then,” Tianxia nodded, “Usually he manages to show up when we’re doing something…” “Stupid?” Bro grinned as he interrupted again. “Difficult,” Tianxia finished as he glared at the grinning mage. Trey and Kaya chuckled, Tianxia turned to glare at them –which only made them laugh harder.

Tianxia shook his head and looked back at the mage, “So, Bro…what brings you out here? I thought you’d be training in Vine Tomb by now.” “Well, when training I am,” he answered, “But actually, I came here hoping to find you and your friends.” Kaya tilted her head to the side, “Oh?” “There’s a crier in town, a request from the Ministry for strong adventurers to be sent on a challenging quest,” the mage’s grin grew, “Naturally I thought you guys would be interested in joining.” Tianxia grinned, he looked back at Kaya and Trey, “Well I’m interested all right…how about you guys?” Kaya smiled as well, “Sounds like it could be fun.” The three adventurers looked at Trey. The cleric shrugged, “I’ll go too.” Tianxia looked back at Brojam with a grin, “Cool. Today’s gonna be fun.”

The collection of adventurers walked forward, looking out in silence at their new surroundings. The place was huge –one large central chamber with a ceiling about five or six meters high, and four small rooms evenly space around it- the area was dimly lit, the flooring was made of giant stone slabs, and judging by the moisture and relative cold, the whole place had to be underground as well. Though what drew most adventurer’s attention had to be the two large guillotines placed in two corners of the room. “Is that what I think it is?” Tianxia asked as he pointed at the old –though nonetheless effective- machine. “If you mean a guillotine, then yes,” Trey answered. “Tianxia pointed again, feeling slightly sick –as he knew the answer to his question, “Actually…I meant the thing in the basket underneath it.” The cleric’s eyes widened, Kaya gasped and looked away –it was the head of one of the villagers they had been sent to rescue.

Earlier that day; in a thankfully rare occurrence, a village had been sacked by a large group of monsters; including Imps, Mushroom, Skeletons and Vivi. They set fire to the farming fields, destroyed storehouses, and ransacked or set fire to the homes as the people fled in panic. The village was still trying to put out the fires that had been started; but many of the people were missing –captured by the mobs. The mobs were tracked to an old, near-forgotten underground safehouse known as the Underground Square; the Ministry –the Isyan Masters- was setting up a rescue operation. As the village attacked was closest to the fort city of Elderine, it was felt that for the sake of speed, the adventurers would be chosen from there and sent out immediately. In all, twenty adventurers answered the call, including Tianxia, Kaya, Trey and Bro.

A fighter raised a hand to her mouth as she took a deep breath, “Hello!” her voice echoed around the chamber and in the small adjoining rooms, “Is anyone here?” The echoes trailed off, leaving the adventurers in silence as they continued to slowly walk out in different directions. “We are adventurers from Elderine!” she shouted again, “If you can hear me; shout back!” Once again the echoes faded into silence –the air of the cave seemed to become even colder. “Correct me if I’m wrong,” Trey said from behind Kaya, “But we’re supposed to be here rescuing people, right?” “Yeah,” Kaya said as she looked around, “But I don’t see anyone here.” A nearby fighter lifted his eyebrows in dark humor, “Aside from the one in the basket, you mean?” A soft scuffing sound echoed lightly from one of the rooms, but it was too soft to tell which room it came from, even for the elves in the group. “Hello?” the fighter called again, “Is someone there!?” There was another soft scuffling sound; this time from the other direction –but again too soft to be certain of where exactly it came from.

The fighter sheathed her sword, pointing at a party of adventurers, “Let’s split up. You guys; search over that direction,” she turned and pointed at Tianxia’s group, “You guys search over there; my group will take the south room.” The tanker for the first group nodded and they began walking toward the North room to search for the captured villagers. “She’s serious?” Bro whispered behind Tianxia, “She wants us to split up in THIS creepy place?” Tianxia nodded, “I agree -splitting up doesn’t sound like a good idea to me.” Kaya looked around, suppressing a shudder, “This….doesn’t feel right.” He drew his sword, the blade of which emanated a shining blue energy around it from its moderate refinement, “Yeah. It feels like…” “MOBS!” came the cry from the North room. Everyone looked up to see the party from the North room running back into the main chamber, followed by a large gang of powerful Mushroom-beasts. All adventurers drew their weapons and prepared to bombard the large collection of enemies; as more monsters flooded the main chamber, a similar set to the first one flowing out of each of the three remaining rooms. Tianxia raised his blade, looking around at each of the four large gangs of mobs rushing toward them, uncertain which he should be trying to attack. “A trap,” he whispered as the first Mushroom leapt into the crowd of Isyan adventurers.

Orchids_Mantis

09-24-2009, 02:20 AM

Chapter 9: Massacre in the Underground Square

Tianxia swung his blade at the Mushroom, cleaving the sentient fungus in half; falling forward as the fists of yet another Mushroom impacted against his back several times in quick, powerful blows. He spun and raised his blade as a bolt of magic, courtesy of Bro, exploded against its skull. Tianxia nodded at the mage, then turned to look for his next target –he found it about half a meter from his face as it leapt forward, leading with its fist. Tianxia dropped to his knees and leaned back, allowing the surprised Mushroom to fly over his head; he spun on his knees and swept his sword around and down, slicing from the beast’s head through its stalk as it landed. He spied motion beside him as he finished getting up and spun to meet the opponent, but he was too slow; one of Kaya’s poisoned arrows struck the beast in its neck, felling the small creature. “More are coming!” someone shouted. Tianxia looked up, seeing that indeed another wave of enemies –Imps this time- were swarming toward the adventurers out of the four rooms of the Underground Square. Tianxia looked around as the enemies began to spread out; launching another wave of attacks.

The fighters and clerics circled up, making a line of shields, swords and hammers to fend off the beasts as the mages and archers dealt the majority of the damage. A few of the higher level fighters were able to stun a good number of them with their Devastate skill; but the swarm of mobs was too spread out to be effective. Despite all the effort they gave; the Imps managed to defeat a cleric, a fighter and two mages before being driven back –thankfully the quick actions of a few other clerics managed to prevent the cleric and one of the mages from being teleported to Elderine.

The enemies vanished; leaving the circle of adventurers in the silent darkness of the underground chambers. “Mock, fighters!” shouted one of the archers. “I would if I was getting healed!” a fighter yelled back. “I was healing you!” a cleric replied hotly. “Yeah well not well enough! I almost got knocked out!” he shot back. “I healed you perfectly fine! It’s not my fault your defense is so weak!” the cleric retorted. “Come over here and I’ll show you weak defense!” the fighter said as he pointed his sword at the cleric. “SHUT UP! EVERYONE SHUT UP!” the loud shout echoed across the underground square several times; all adventurers present looked back at the mage that had been responsible for it. “Something to add, Bro?” Tianxia asked after a moment. “It’s no one’s fault,” the mage said, ignoring Tianxia’s comment, “We’re sitting ducks out here; they are able to attack us from too many angles, to single out the ones who are relatively weak and strike at them avoiding the ones who are able to deal the greatest damage or hold the better defense! In addition, they are too spaced out for any fighter’s mock or devastate to be used to a good effect.” “So do you have a recommendation or are you just saying it’s no one’s fault so we can die knowing none of us screwed up?” a fighter asked sarcastically. Energy crackled in the mage’s fingertips, “If you really want to die…keep ticking me off.” The fighter swaggered, “Ooh, I’m shaking.”

Tianxia looked away as a light scuffing sound came from one of the rooms again, “Uh, hey guys? Not to interrupt your fascinating conversation, but I think we’re about to have more company…did you have an idea, Bro?” The energy in the mage’s hand died out as he looked at the other fighter, “The rooms.” “What about them?” Trey asked. “We all go into one of the rooms,” he answered. “Are you crazy!?” a cleric shouted, “Those things are freaking tiny! If we get attacked in there we won’t even be able to run away and regroup!” “Not to mention that’s where they seem to come from,” another fighter added, “Seems to be a bad place to stay.” Bro shook his head, “Yes, that’s where the mobs are coming from –but remember: except for the ones that are in the room already, all the others will have to come through the door. That alone takes away their greatest advantages: they will be crowded together and attacking from only one side. We can set up a line of fighters at the door to use Mock or Devastate if they have it and trap the mobs as they come at us." The mage looked around at the faces of the clearly uncertain adventurers, "Look it may not be the best-laid plan; but it's a lot better than staying out here and getting slaughtered!” Tianxia's head jerked as he heard scuffing sounds -like claws running lightly across stone- come from another room; then he began walking toward the South room, “Well…I’m convinced.” Kaya and Trey followed him, as did Bro; a few seconds later the rest of the adventurers were also walking toward the small room in the south end.

The adventurers entered the small room, finding it to be completely empty. “There’s nothing in here,” Kaya said as she looked around. “A big thank you goes out to Ms. Points-out-the-obvious,” came a reply. Kaya started to answer, but Tianxia put a hand on her shoulder and shook his head; Kaya sighed and walked forward. “So was that it?” asked Trey, “Just those two waves of enemies?” “I doubt it,” Bro answered, “From the sound of things, the mobs that hit the village were much more numerous.” Trey looked around, shrugging his shoulder, “So then where are they?” As though answering the cleric’s question, a sudden light appeared in the center of the room; six large Wolves emerged, growling and standing up on their hind legs as they saw the adventurers. “Summons!” a cleric yelled as she backed away. Tianxia charged forward as two Wolves targeted the cleric, spinning into a wall as a third slashed at him from the side, slicing deep into his left shoulder. The momentary stun over, the adventurers drew their weapons and fell upon the beasts; quickly slaying all six in a hail of arrows, explosive spells, and flashing blades.

“That explains it,” Bro said as he kicked at one of the bodies on the ground –which vanished afterward, “They were summons. That’s why so many can fit in these tiny rooms but when we enter we don’t see anything.” He smiled, “Heh…and here I was thinking secret passageways.” Tianxia stepped toward the door, “Though while that ends one fear…it grants another: what the heck can make summons like this…and where is it?” He looked out into the dark center of the square, nodding as Wolves began to emerge from the other rooms, moving toward their tiny hold-out in the south end. He looked back at the other adventurers, "Show time, guys. More summons.” (Summons were creatures that did not exist in the normal realm; rather, they were special beings that were created by another more powerful creature’s magic. They possessed limited intelligence and no free will. Once summoned they would attack whatever they were commanded to attack until they died, their target died, or the being that summoned them was dead.) As the fighters lined up at the doorway and prepared their defenses, Tianxia grew worried. "Summoning," he thought, "An incredibly difficult skill to master as it stands -and summoning monsters is also incredibly taxing on the spirit...for a being to be able to summon means it is very strong...to be able to summon this many beasts this fast; means it is powerful to a scale that I don't think anyone here has ever seen."

Orchids_Mantis

09-27-2009, 09:25 PM

Chapter 9: Massacre in the Underground Square

Bro’s strategy seemed effective enough; wave after wave of enemies were summoned, and each time the small force would drive them off. Mushroom, Imps, Wolves, Boars, even Skeleton Archers and Skeleton Soldiers, each time a set appeared in the room they were quickly felled by poison arrows, strong hammer blows, explosive magic attacks and deep wounds from swords and axes; then the adventurers would move to the doorway to intercept the other three sets of enemies that arrived from the other three rooms and with merciless efficiency killed them as well. Over a hundred enemies fell to the adventurers in an incredible slaughter whereas the Isyans had only lost two of their number since arriving; indeed it seemed that the adventurers’ defense was impregnable, that no mob summoned by the still-unknown master-monster could break through them -until the Dark Skeleton Knights appeared.

The adventurers sat in the room congratulating themselves on another victory over yet another wave of mobs, having light conversations as they waited for their next set of prey to appear. “This is getting too easy,” said a nearby archer, “That last wave fell even faster than the one before it.” “Well, practice makes perfect, I guess,” a cleric shrugged. “And we are getting plenty of practice at this tactic,” Trey grinned. The archer kicked the ground lightly, “Yeah well…it’s getting boring. I mean, they appear, we kill them, we move to the door, the fighters mock and devastate as the next group arrives, then we kill that group as well –they’re usually dead before I even fire three shots. There’s no challenge in this at all now.” “Well, I won’t complain about easy,” Tianxia said under his breath. Sitting next to him, Kaya chuckled at his comment. The archer turned around and walked to a corner, arms flailing lightly, “I mean really now; how about something hard or challenging, this is boring!” As he finished speaking, a light appeared on the floor from under the archer’s feet. On all sides of the archer, four large skeletal beings, bones blackened from years spent under the earth, clad in ancient metal armor and carrying large swords sprang from the ground.

The archer looked around in horrified bewilderment, “Oh holy sh…” the rest of his sentence was left unfinished as three of the large beings each struck the elf with a blade; he fell to the ground silently, body vanishing as the teleportation effect kicked in. The dark skeletons looked at the room of stunned adventurers, then moved toward them, brandishing their weapons. The fighters charged, mocking and using Devastate; archers and mages unleashed their most powerful attacks as clerics healed when someone was hurt, or bashed when they found an opportunity; but the powerful skeletons did not fall. They bore the massive assault, continually striking, blocking and charging at the front-line fighters.

Tianxia hacked at one of the large undead monsters; his blade cutting into the metal armor but leaving the enemy unharmed. To his side, one of the large black skeletons finally fell to the floor with a loud clatter; he shook his head and growled, this set was taking a lot longer than the last ones. His face went white. “This set…The last…ones,” the thought repeated itself, he turned to look at the doorway; the opening was unguarded as most of the adventurers were trying to fend off the attack from within -forgetting about the imminent arrival of more of these tough skeletons from the other rooms. His eyes widened as in the darkness beyond the opening, he saw more of the large skeleton beasts starting to move toward them. “The door!” he shouted, “The door is undefended!” A fighter turned to look, “What!? Oh ****! Guys we have to get to the door NOW! We can’t let the rest of them get in here!” Another fighter grunted as a strong blade struck his shield, “Unh! And how exactly should we do that? If we deal with the ones at the door, these guys will slice us up from behind!” ”And if we don’t, then we get caught by the ones that will be here in a few seconds!” the other yelled back. “Well since you aren’t busy, you’re welcome to try and stop them yourself,” the other growled, pushing against the sword on his shield. The first fighter looked back out at the shadows looming larger in the square, “One fighter against NINE of those guys!? You must be joking!” “Nnng-well I can’t… exactly…MOVE right now!” the other replied. A mage near the doorway started to back farther into the chamber, eyes transfixed on the large black skeletons running at him, “Well someone do SOMETHING!” Tianxia looked around the room, no one seemed to be able to come up with an idea –but the mage was right, someone had to think of something, or they were all dead. He looked over to his side, Kaya was looking back up at him, eyes wide, “Tianxia?”

Tianxia grit his teeth and looked out the doorway. He shook his head at what he was about to do. “This is insane,” he thought, “This is completely freaking insane.” He shut his eyes as he shook his head, then bolted out the door shouting loudly, “DAMMIT!” Kaya’s eyes went even wider as the fighter ran away from her –straight toward the nine large enemies, “Tianxia!” Not halting or responding to her cry, he ran at the skeletal beings and mocked; drawing all nine of them at himself. Trey’s jaw dropped, Bro looked up in horror at seeing the lone fighter’s charge, “Tianxia! What the Hell are you doing!?” “Honestly,” he growled under his breath as he ran forward, “I have no freaking clue.”

The Dark Skeleton Knights raised their swords as the fighter closed; Tianxia narrowed his eyes and shouted, but never drew his sword. He darted straight into their midst, then continued to drive through them, doing his best to dodge the attacks –swearing loudly when he failed- and dashed out the other side. Tianxia reached into his pouch and used a charge from his soul stone to recover from the few slices that he had taken; then turned around looking the large undead warriors, and made a face at them, “Nyaaaah! Missed me!” The nine large beings turned toward Tianxia, minds filled with rage, promising that this fighter would not be able to say that for long; but before they could strike the fighter turned again, taking once more to his heels -the dark skeletons following. “Uh-huh,” Tianxia thought as he ran, “This is crazy.” “Nice going, Tianxia!” Bro cheered from inside. Tianxia looked back, eyes locking onto the nine large swords only a few meters away, then muttered to himself, “Yeah…real nice.”

Ordinarily after a while a mob would give up chasing someone and go away; but trapped underground as he was, the mobs had no intention of ceasing their pursuit of this annoying fighter. “Crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy,” the word repeated itself with every step he took as he fled from the large beasts; quickly Tianxia reached the other side of the square, where he spun around to see the angry swarm of enemies closing on him. “Crap. What now, smart guy?” he asked himself as he placed his hands on the wall behind him. “Tianxia!” Bro shouted again, “Move! MOVE!” He made a face as he murmured again, “As though I planned on staying here?” He reached into his pouch, grabbing two scrolls and breaking their seals; then watched the skeletons. As they approached, they raised their swords, planting one foot each as they struck –in that instant, they slowed down. He sprang to the side, praying the combination of an evasion and speed scroll would prove as effective as it sounded; emerging unscathed and running away full-tilt to another corner of the room. “Ha HA! That-a way, Tianxia!” came Bro’s voice again. “I’m sure this is very entertaining to watch!” Tianxia shouted, “But I can’t keep this up forever!” “Don’t worry!” Bro shouted back, “We only have one more and he’s almost done for! Once he’s down we’ll come help you!” “Oh my giddy heart,” Tianxia said as he reached another wall and turned to see the gang of skeletons rushing him again. Again the skeletons tried to attack, and again Tianxia darted past them –taking one light hit to the shoulder as one of the beasts managed to compensate for the move, “Could you hurry that up any? These guys are starting to get close!”

“He’s down!” someone shouted after another moment, “Run in front of the doorway! We’ll try to pull a few off of you!” “Couldn’t you pull most of them off of me and let me only have to worry about two or three?” he muttered. “Alright!” he shouted as he changed course, “Just don’t hit me, okay?” He passed in front of the door; hearing the twang of bowstrings and the distinctive sound of mage attacks a few seconds later; he looked back, frowning to see only two had been lured away. “Two!?” he shouted, “Come on! Only two!?” “It’s easier for us to fight two,” someone shouted back, “We’ll be able to kill them much faster this way, and take the next two off of you sooner!” He looked ahead, at the upcoming wall, “Provided I am still around to have them pulled off of me,” he growled.

Within only four minutes, the remaining nine Dark Skeleton Knights fell; the adventurers all cheered at their success, some –including Tianxia- fell to the floor in mild exhaustion after they returned to their small hold-out room. “Well, that was interesting,” Bro grinned as they rested. Trey shook his head, “Dang…after summons like that…I wonder what’s next?” As though cued by the question; the light on the floor reappeared in the center of the room, large zombies emerging from it. Tianxia sat up, looking at them as though sick, “Zombies? Zombies are next?” The undead beings turned toward the adventurers, raising the blunt weapons in their hands; falling to the ground in a hail of explosions as the mages unleashed their most powerful attacks on them. Bro chuckled as he and the other mages moved toward the entrance, “Take a break, fighters, we can handle these guys.” With the appearance of an indoor thunderstorm, the mages sent volley after volley of spells into the other zombies as they approached; the undead beings’ bodies bursting and covering the ground as they did so. Within moments, that round was over, and the mages walked back into the small room.

The whole underground chamber fell quiet, the only sounds were from the adventurers. After a few minutes, Kaya looked at the other adventurers around her, “Think that’s the last of them?” “I have no idea,” Tianxia sighed, “But I hope so.” The adventurers continued to wait in the quiet underground chamber; Bro shook his head, “I don’t like this…it feels like when we first entered again.” “Relax,” Tianxia grinned, “We know what to do when summons appear now.” A loud, deep roar answered his statement, echoing off the walls and nearly causing the whole place to shake. Tianxia shot to his feet as the roar’s echoes faded, a constant, menacing growl, as though from some large carnivorous beast hunting for food, replacing it. Bro looked back at Tianxia, whose grin was long gone, “What about the thing that summoned them, though?”

Orchids_Mantis

09-27-2009, 09:27 PM

Chapter 9: Massacre in the Underground Square

The beast’s growl faded, the adventurers remained quiet for another moment before someone spoke up, “Well, shall we go out and meet our host?” Tianxia hesitated, “I’m divided here…I’d like to stay in this room, but at the same time, that thing knows what it has to do to overwhelm us here now, going out may be to our advantage –we will at least have room to move around and try to control the fronts.” Bro nodded, “True enough. Though something just doesn’t feel right about this.” Tianxia lowered his head, “I know.” “I would like to point out,” said an archer, “That as there are clearly no villagers here to rescue; our job is over –all we have to do is survive until we are warped back to town in another ten minutes or so. We don’t have to kill whatever’s down here.” Trey looked back at him, “You saying we should let this thing live and attack another village?” “No,” the archer answered, “But I am saying that we can leave, report what we found and let a more prepared squad come down and deal with this beast –we don’t have to get ourselves killed trying to kill it.” Kaya nodded emphatically, “I agree with that sentiment.” “As do I,” Tianxia answered, Bro nodding as well, “Still, that leaves us with the task of surviving –which may be hard in this tiny room; may I suggest we move into the main chamber?” Reluctantly, the adventurers wandered back into the open chamber to the Underground Square, where they circled up and waited for the next enemy’s appearance –it was not long in coming.

A figure emerged from the North room. Tall and lean, yet still built powerfully, the beast was covered in fur like a wolf, with a wolf-like appearance in the face, yet walked on distinctly humanoid legs. In its human-like hands, the beast carried two blades, one glowing red, as though powered by rage and fury; the other blue, as though its power was of a remorseless desire to kill. The first fighter to see the beast lowered her shield for a moment; what the hell is THAT!?” Everyone turned, eyes popping wide and hands lowering in surprise as the creature strode toward them. A fighter pointed his sword at the monster, “Hit it! Hit it now and put it down for good!” Snapping out of their slight daze, the archers and mages unleashed a torrent of energy attacks and poison spells, which slammed into the beast with harsh explosions, singing fur, searing flesh, penetrating its hide and delivering deadly poisons into its blood; yet the beast never broke its stride. It walked up to the adventurers, sighting a mage. “Mock!” the mage shouted as the beast lifted a sword, “In Teva’s name, someone MOCK!” Heeding the cry a fighter used mock, drawing the wolfish beast’s attention. The fighter raised his shield to deflect the blow as the creature raised its other blade –slicing through the fighter’s shield and armor, felling him in a single blow. “What the Hell?” Bro shouted at seeing the fighter crumple to the ground and vanish, “What is this thing? Legel incarnate?”

With the fighter gone, the beast turned toward an archer that had not stopped attacking it, and with a single strike felled that adventurer as well. “Break up!” someone shouted, “Break up! He’ll kill us all if we stay in a group like this!” The adventurers quickly scattered, the large beast chasing after another archer, dropping her to the ground as the archer tried to double back. In mere minutes, the Isyan force’s numbers were lowered from eighteen, to only eight –the beast seemed to be enjoying itself as it chased almost playfully after the adventurers one by one. “Someone get that thing’s attention!” Bro yelled as the beast struck down a cleric. The mage turned and looked at Tianxia, “Tianxia! Can you do it?” Tianxia straightened, “Are you SERIOUS!? Did you MISS the part where it sliced through a fighter’s SHIELD with one strike?” “Bro’s face hardened, “Tianxia, you’re the only one crazy enough to try, no other fighter here will, no archer or mage has the armor for it, and the clerics will be trying to keep you alive.” Tianxia shook his head, Bro’s stance became challenging, “You did it with the skeletons!” Tianxia pointed at the beast –chasing another cleric now, “I had to use scrolls just to survive those skeletons! I don’t stand a chance against that thing!” “What if you had more scrolls?” Bro asked. Tianxia gave a sarcastic laugh, “I’d need a lot of scrolls for that, vitality, defense, evasion for sure –and good ones, too, not the tier one things I use.” Bro nodded, pulling out several high-tier scrolls, “Right then, here you go, Tianxia.” “I had to open my trap,” he thought grimly as he looked at the scrolls, “I couldn’t have stuck with my, ‘No I can’t,’ defense; I had to say I only need scrolls.”

“Tianxia!” Trey shouted from across the square. He looked up, seeing that Trey had managed to draw the beast’s attention by casting a barrier on the other cleric, “Help!” He growled as he grabbed the scrolls from Bro’s hands and bolted toward the cleric. “Dammit,” he griped as he started breaking the seals on the scrolls, “When the hell did I sign up for this crap?” He ran to the side, toward the area that Trey was running, and drew his weapon, pointing it at the large dog-beast. As the cleric closed in, Tianxia mocked, and the large beast broke away from Trey, running instead at the fighter. Tianxia shook his head, then took off in the other direction – a slash from the beast’s blades missing him by a narrow margin as the speed scroll he used earlier accelerated him out of range before they could strike the fighter in the back. “Clerics!” Bro called out –to the remaining two clerics, “Keep that fighter up and running!” He looked at the remaining three people, Kaya, a fighter, and another mage, “No one else attack that thing, let it keep its attention focused on Tianxia!” “Yay for me,” Tianxia thought dryly as he dodged another slash of the beast’s blades. He yelled as the blue blade ran across his back, easily penetrating the armor –even with the added defense of the tier three defense scroll. His skin flashed blue as a cleric cast a healing spell, a startled shout alerted Tianxia to the fact that the beast was no longer following him.

He spun on his heel and bolted after the furred beast –which was closing in on the fleeing cleric. “Hey dog boy!” Tianxia yelled after it, “Heel! Heel!” The beast ignored the fighter’s taunts, continuing after the cleric. Angry at being ignored, Tianxia shouted loudly, “Heel means get your furry behind over here, you stupid mongrel! Come on, I’ve seen CATS that could figure that out faster than you, you mange-ridden, flea-infested fur-brained insult to canines!” The beast stopped, turning again to face the fighter, then started running back toward him. Tianxia rolled his eyes, “Oh NOW you figure it out? Well let’s just see.” He spun around, running away from the large beast, “Heel boy! Heel! That’s right, come here!” The beast swung its swords at the fighter, who dodged and changed direction, “Ah good, you’re starting to figure it out!” The beast growled and slashed again, once more missing the fighter. The beast stopped and glared at the aggravating swordsman, Tianxia turned to look back. “Come on, don’t stop now!” Tianxia goaded, “Come here! Come on, boy! Heel! Hee-oooh,” His voice trailed off as a number of Imps and Mushrooms suddenly appeared around the large beast, all looking at the fighter. Bro’s jaw dropped as he saw the summoned beasts appear again, “This isn’t good.” “Oh,” Tianxia said as he assessed the new situation, “well this…was unexpected.” The large beast took a step toward the fighter, the Imps and Mushroom doing likewise. Tianxia nodded, giving a forced smile, “Eh-he. Well that was fun. Good work –excellent progress for one afternoon but uh…I gotta go, see ya!” With that he tore down the chamber, the large beast and its summoned mobs pursuing him.

“Time’s almost up!” Bro yelled from across the hall, “Keep going Tianxia!” Tianxia rolled his eyes as he sprinted up one wall, “Easy for you to say…you’re standing off in safety with everyone else; I’m the one being chased here.” “Tianxia, watch out!” Kaya cried out. He turned to see what was wrong, yelping and ducking his head as a blast of fire whisked through the air at him. He looked back behind himself, making a face at seeing spirit beasts surrounded by glowing fire, “Aw, come on! Vivi!? Seriously!? You summoned Fire Vivi!?” He ducked again as another of the red flame beasts hurled a ball of fire at the fighter, “Man I hate this.”

Minutes passed; his chest felt like someone was stabbing it with dull knives, his lungs burned, his legs ached, he was covered in sweat, his throat was dry and every breath seemed to cause him new pain as he continued to run -dodging fire blasts and leaping Imps as well as the occasional strike by the large master creature’s blades. He rounded another bend, completing yet another circuit of the square, the gang of mobs behind him growing ever larger. “Good thing *gasp* I used to be *gasp* a courier,” he panted as he ran, “Otherwise I’d *gasp* probably have had *gasp* to stop by now.” Another ball of fire streaked in front of him, the heat from its close pass singed his nostrils. He shook his head, as he rounded the next turn “It’s also good *gasp* that these guys aren’t very bright…or they’d have figured out *pant* that this place is just a big circle *pant* and all they have to do to catch me *gasp* is have someone wait in the middle.”

His body screamed at him, begged for him to stop, to fall down, to just accept the idea of being killed because surely it was less painful than this continuous sprint; but he willed himself to continue running. As he chanced a look back to gauge distances, though, his foot hit an uneven block on the ground. The impact knocked his foot back, leaving it out of place to catch his body as his other leg had already pushed off; he waved his arms for balance as he tried to bring his leg forward. He managed to stop the fall but could not regain control of his momentum –he was leaning too far forward after being tripped, and he stumbled forward into a wall. He impacted head and shoulders first into the stone surface; bouncing off and falling to the ground, striking his head once again, the world turned dark after the second impact –he vaguely heard sounds like people talking, and perhaps footfalls, but they quickly died out.

He came to a short time later, opening his eyes from his spot on the ground. Realizing he had fallen and lost consciousness, he quickly sat up and drew his sword with a shout; startling many of the people standing around him. “Tianxia!” Bro smiled down at him, “Easy there, we’re the good guys here.” Before he could reply, he was abruptly tackled by an archer, he fell back to the ground with a light “oomf”. “Tianxia!” the archer shouted, “I was starting to worry you’d hurt yourself hitting your head like that!” “With a thick head like his?” Trey snickered from the side. Tianxia blinked several times, confused, “Huh?” Kaya abruptly punched him in the arm. “Ow!” he said as he rubbed the new sore spot –of which there seemed to be plenty. “Don’t scare me like that again!” she demanded, “You almost got yourself killed!” The fighter looked around, the underground square was gone –they were sitting on one of the streets in Elderine. “He probably has no clue what you’re talking about, Kaya,” Bro said from behind them. Tianxia turned to look at the mage, who sat down –sort of, he actually hovered a few inches off the ground- next to him. “You know, you did pretty well running in there,” Bro said after a moment, “Right up until you tripped and smacked into the wall. I’m betting that’s about the last part you remember.” Tianxia nodded and the mage continued, “As wipeouts go…it was pretty epic –I gotta say, if there hadn’t been a big monster chasing you with the intent of killing you at the time, I’d have laughed. But anyways; as far as timing goes, you were only a few seconds shy of the perfect time to trip up. You see; after you hit your head and passed out; the mobs surrounded you. Trey and the remaining cleric –whose name escapes me and who has, since returning to Elderine, wandered off- cast barriers on you to protect you; they lasted just long enough to run out the rest of the clock on the warp spell and port us back to good ol’ Eldy.” Bro shrugged, “A few seconds sooner, and you’d have been toast; but a few seconds later and you’d have missed the wall –it wouldn’t have been there...though of course you would have been stumbling full-tilt up the street of Elderine’s market.” The mage paused and looked to the side, picturing that event, “And that would have been hilarious.”

Tianxia took a moment to absorb all the information, then looked around, “So what the hell was that thing, anyways?” “Millenium Robo,” a voice answered. They all turned to see Guard Captain Shutian of Elderine walking toward them, “A powerful being cursed into the form of part beast and part human.” “Robo,” Trey echoed, “Like Werewolf Robo?” Shutian nodded, “Sort of.Werewolf Robo is a person that is cursed to become a Robo beast once every so often; the transformation usually has to do with the phases of the moon. Millenium Robo, however…he is cursed for a thousand years to take the form of Robo; the beast, being out for a much longer period, becomes a great deal stronger than the Werewolf Robo.” Shutian shook his head, “I didn’t think it would be down there –let alone that it would set up that trap. It was an elaborate setup; attacking a village and capturing only one person to make it seem that the people who had fled may have also been captured; all to lure a group of adventurers sent as a rescue party into an ambush.” Bro spoke up after a moment of silence passed, “So what now?” Shutian looked back at them, “Your jobs are done; your reward chests for the completion of the quest have been added into your respective inventories already.” “What about the Robo?” asked Kaya, “Are we just leaving it down there?” Shutian shook his head, “No. We are not done dealing with this Robo yet; we will have to send in parties regularly from now on to keep that thing in check.” He looked up with a grin, “But for now; you take a rest,” he eyed Tianxia specifically, “Teva knows you look like you could use it.”

Orchids_Mantis

09-27-2009, 09:32 PM

Chapter 10: …Define “Mini”…

It had been about eight months now since Tianxia had first come to Rumen as an adventurer. Tianxia and his friends had spent the morning training in the area known as Collapsed Prison; slaying a few dozen Weakened Ogres and Harkans before heading back to Elderine rest and resupply. As they entered the town, they heard a loud shout -it was from Shutian, an Isyan Master and captain of Elderine’s guard, he was calling for strong adventurers to meet him by the fountain, to join in a special quest ordered to be done by the Isyan Masters themselves. Finding the idea interesting –as killing Harkans and Weakened Ogres was becoming a bit monotonous; the trio decided to go listen to what Shutian was talking about.

By the time they arrived, a large crowd had already gathered before the fountain; Tianxia and his friends were far in the back; but Shutian’s loud voice carried well, even in the loud city. “Adventurers of Isya,” he began, “I, and the other Masters of Isya, have called upon you today to assist with a matter of great urgency.” The crowd went dead silent as the captain continued, “In a canyon, a reasonable distance from our cities, miners recently discovered and have been collecting a rare ore charged with magic energies that creates items and materials upon breaking.” There was a disappointed click from someone nearby, “Aw man…tell me I didn’t run here to listen about a quest to gather ore for merchants.” Shutian’s eyes blazed at the adventurer, “The Isyan Masters would not be bothered with such a trifle matter.” The adventurer rolled his eyes, murmuring, “They did for Gold Hill.” “Gold Hill was another matter entirely!” Shutian shot back, “It was and still is the cause of many travelers being caught in a deadly trap; which is why we continue to send adventurers there to keep the monster population low! Now then, if you feel bored you can go; there are plenty of others here willing to assist with the matter.” He paused a moment, “And if you wish to know what the matter is, then I suggest you shut up and listen.”

The adventurer went silent and Shutian looked up at the crowd, “Over the last few days, miners have been attacked by monsters; their reports stated they were not normal monsters; but something different. Initially we thought it was simply inexperienced miners that had never seen the larger monsters that can roam out that far before, but yesterday we sent a few adventurers to escort them, and received a disturbing report of gigantic summoned monsters that had barricaded off the canyon and were attacking anything that came near.” His voice lifted slightly, “This was disturbing enough; but included in their report was the sighting of a large shadow that was seen flying for brief periods -just skirting the tops of the canyon before dropping back into the ravine. Due to this sighting, and the magic that would be needed to create the beasts spotted in the ravine; it is the belief of the masters that this is the work of a dragon.”

The whole crowd gasped at the mention of this: dragons were an incredibly rare sight; indeed these days seeing one was almost unheard of. “To be more specific, we believe that a mini dragon has become separated from its family and made its way into the canyons where it has since become lost.” “Can you believe it?” whispered a nearby mage, “An actual mini dragon.” “Awww,” a nearby cleric girl cooed, “How cute.” “It sounds cute,” Tianxia whispered in admittance, “Before saying it is, though, I should like someone to define what exactly ‘mini’ for a dragon is.” Shutian’s speech continued, “Being a juvenile as it is, it must be unable to fly out of the deep canyons. Having lost the protection of its family, it has become scared and summoned these monsters as a defense for itself. We cannot, however, allow this dragon to stay in the ravine –and not just because of the ore that is found there; but because should the dragon find a way out and approach one of the cities –or Teva forbid a village- these monsters would cause havoc and destruction on a scale that has not been seen almost since the war of the gods. This dragon must be slain for the security of all Isyan citizens!” The captain paused a moment, “This circle around the fountain,” he pointed at a large white circle that surrounded the Elderine fountain, “Is the starting point for this quest.” Shutian looked over the crowd, “Now, all of you present may wish to participate in this battle; but history shows that sending too many soldiers to a battle can indeed hurt a cause…so this circle will teleport whoever is inside its radius when twenty adventurers arrive; or, if less than twenty arrive, however many of you there are present in ten minutes. This circle’s power is not indefinite, though; those of you that are sent to the canyon will only be given forty five minutes to get past the dragon’s defensive beasts and slay it. After that, the teleportation spell wears off and you will be taken back here.” He raised his voice again, “Now, to those of you that wish to participate; I suggest you gather what supplies you need and make your way back here quickly!”

Tianxia looked over at the archer and cleric that ere with him, “Well…I’m interested. What about you guys?” Kaya hesitated a moment, “I don’t know…I’m not sure about attacking a dragon –even if it is a mini dragon.” Tianxia moved closer to her, putting his arms around her, “Don’t worry, I’ll be right there with you.” She hesitated another moment, Tianxia smiled, “We don’t have to go if you don’t want to.” Folding his arms, the cleric next to them grumbled softly, “Glad to know my vote counts.” “It does count, Trey,” Tianxia answered, “But we go by majority vote; and if Kaya is too uncomfortable with the idea then my vote is also ‘no”, putting your vote for ‘yes’ in the minority.” The cleric made a face and looked away as Kaya looked up at Tianxia, “No…I’ll go.” Tianxia looked down at her, “Are you sure?” She smiled and nodded; Tianxia smiled back at her, kissing her lightly on the forehead, “Okay, Then we’re going.” “I have to put some items in storage first,” Trey said quickly. “Ah, so do I,” said Kaya. Tianxia looked over at the fountain –several adventurers were already there. “Alright,” Tianxia said reluctantly, “Go, I’ll wait for you guys at the fountain -but be fast…remember only the first twenty get to go.” Trey nodded and dashed off. Kaya gave Tianxia a peck on the cheek, then ran toward Storage Keeper Kyle’s place as well, “I’ll be right back!” Tianxia nodded in reply to both, then walked to the fountain and stood in the circle to wait for them.

Tianxia waited at the fountain, anxiously counting each person that was present in the circle –including himself there were seventeen so far, of which four were fighters, four were archers, five were mages and four more were clerics. He cringed as another fighter showed up. “Eighteen,” he thought, “Come on you guys; hurry up…there won’t be enough room for you guys if you don’t get back here.” Another cleric ran up, “Nineteen…only enough for Kaya or Trey….crap…Kaya, hurry up.” His spirit lifted as he at last saw Kaya, pushing her way through the crowded markets of Elderine. He smiled as she approached, then his eyes widened in shock as another mage bolted past her and ran into the circle. Twenty. The mage smiled and looked around, eyes settling on the fighter standing next to him –Tianxia. “Whew!” the mage grinned, “Just made it!” The circle around the adventurers glowed brightly, Tianxia stared in a dazed stupor, gaze switching between the mage that had just filled the circle, and the archer standing on the steps to Elderine’s square. The light from the circle intensified, blocking out everything; when the light vanished, Elderine was gone, replaced by the barren, rocky features of the canyon.

Orchids_Mantis

09-28-2009, 07:34 PM

Chapter 10: …Define “Mini”…

The enormous beast swung its great axe down; slamming it into the ground where the fighter had just been standing. The bluish-white skinned monster yanked its axe free of the ground; turning to glare at the shield-bearing tanker as he taunted the giant goblin once again at having failed to kill him. The Great Goblin King tensed, gathering energy, then released it in a massive pulse, stunning the four fighters surrounding him. “Oscar is stunned!” someone in the crowd of adventurers shouted, “So is the backup tank! Someone get up there!” Tianxia finished his attack, the large red Imp falling to the ground clutching at its opened stomach. He looked to the side, seeing that the tank, Oscar, and the backup tank, Blade Fiend, had both become victims of the Great Goblin King’s stun spell. The GGK raised its axe at the paralyzed tanker, growling and lurching forward as several strong mage spells slammed into its back and shoulders. “Stop attacking,” someone shouted, “Or you’ll draw his attention…” The massive goblin roared and began stomping toward the crowd of clerics, archers and mages standing back some ten meters. “…at us,” the archer that had been shouting finished.

“Crap,” Tianxia said as he saw the GGK moving toward the second line of adventurers. “We have to do something,” came a voice nearby, “Tianxia; can you handle it for a bit?” He looked back at the cleric next to him, “You think you’re up for this, Laifu? I’m not a tanker and without a shield his AoE attack slams into me full force –you’ll have your hands full.” The cleric nodded, “True,” he looked back at the large goblin, quickly approaching the other adventurers, “But right now; I don’t see much of an option.” “Okay then; just back me up there, pal!” Tianxia shouted as he bolted toward the large goblin, swinging his massive sword behind him. “Hey, ugly!” he yelled as he closed in; the goblin turned to look at the small fighter, “Yeah you! Wrinkle face with the ears dragging the ground! Over here, tough guy!” The GGK gave a hissing growl as it raised its axe and moved toward the other fighter. The GGK’s axe swung down, a blow that contained far more force than Tianxia could hope to stop with his own sword. “This is gonna be painful,” he thought as he watched the large blade smash into the ground.

A great shockwave rose up from the point of impact, cracking the rocky ground as it raced outward in all directions -and toward the fighter; Tianxia shut his eyes as it slammed into him and knocked him into the air, slamming him against a canyon wall. “Yup,” he groaned as he lay on the ground, “That was painful.” He began to get up, then yelped and collapsed as his arm bent above the elbow –his recent encounter with the rocky face of the canyon had apparently caused the bone to break in more than one area. A blue aura surrounded him, his arm straightened, his bone painlessly realigning and fusing back together. He launched himself from the ground, grabbing his sword, and charged the GGK again; which had decided that, despite the earlier taunt, the fighter was not worth the effort of killing and was moving again to attack the second line of adventurers. As the Great Goblin King approached, however, a fighter with a bright pink shield skidded to a stop before it. “Yo, Gobby,” the fighter called up at the beast, “Sorry, I think I fell asleep back there –this fight hasn’t been too difficult so far. Miss me?” The large goblin replied with a swing of its mighty axe, which slammed into the fighter’s shield and sent the fighter sliding back several feet.

“Ah, that’s good,” Laifu said from beside Tianxia, “The tank has recovered from the stun spell, so we’re free to go about our usual business.” Tianxia nodded, “Yeah, but our usual business is already dead, remember?” The cleric looked back at the bodies of Hobs and large Spiders littering the canyon floor, “One would think forgetting this would be impossible.” “So,” Tianxia spoke up, “Do we help them with their job or sit back and relax for now?” The cleric glared at the fighter, Tianxia raised his hands in mock surrender, “Alright, alright, we’ll help. Sheesh I was just giving a suggestion I found appealing.” The cleric and fighter ran forward to join the rest of the adventurers in their attack on the large axe-wielding goblin. Oscar and Blade Fiend did a good job at causing the GGK no end of rage –keeping his focus away from Tianxia’s blade –and the blade of the other two fighters that were not trying to tank- as well as the many archers and mages that were standing a short distance away, covering the GGK’s body with arrows and scorch marks with attacks of their own. The GGK lurched forward suddenly under a hail of arrows and spells. It hefted its axe skyward and gave a mighty roar, then collapsed to the ground, a cloud of dust rising beneath it.

A loud cheer erupted from the crowd of adventurers; one which died out very suddenly as a different roar echoed through the canyon, an answer the GGK’s death cry. “What was that?” asked Blade Fiend as he raised his shield. “It sounded like…a Robo,” Laifu answered from behind Tianxia. “That sounded almost nothing like Werewolf Robo,” Tianxia replied, “And it was different than Millennium Robo as well.” The cleric looked back at him, “That’s why I said “A Robo”. We know there are two types of Robo so far; but that doesn’t mean there can’t be more –and that did sound a bit like Millennium Robo.” The crowd grew silent as loud footfalls became audible –something large was running through the canyon toward them. A rumbling sound followed behind the stomping footsteps; Tianxia shook his head at the new set of sounds, drawing his sword, “Well whatever it is…it brought friends with it.” He looked back at the tank, Oscar, “Time?” The tank looked away for a moment, “About twenty minutes.” The stones on the ground began to move as the stampede of beasts closed in, Tianxia looked back at the cleric, “Same plan?” “Same plan,” Laifu nodded. Tanxia took a long, deep breath, “Well…this should be fun.”

Somewhere a girl talked to a boy, “I hope he is alright.” “He will be,” the boy answered, “He always is…it’s like some kind of charm he was born with or something…divine protection or whatnot, you know?” The girl looked down, thinking for a moment, “I still feel kind of bad about that trick we played on him.” “It had to be done, didn’t it?” the boy replied. The girl nodded, “Mm.” They sat in silence another few seconds before she spoke up again, “When do you think he will be back?” The boy grew irritated, “Do we have to keep talking about him? The whole point of this was so we could actually be alone for a little bit without him bumbling around us and all you want to do is talk about him!” “I’m sorry, the girl answered, “I just…I don’t know.” The boy sighed, reaching out and putting his arms around her, “I’m sorry; I shouldn’t have snapped. I guess I’m a bit jealous of how he’s all you seem interested in.” “You don’t need to be jealous,” the girl answered. The boy looked back at her, “I don’t?” She pulled him closer and kissed him lightly, “No. You don’t.”

Orchids_Mantis

09-28-2009, 07:35 PM

Chapter 10: …Define “Mini”…

The sentient plant hopped forward on its thick green stalk, the white flower at the peak closed as it whipped forward and spit a glob of digestive acid at the fighter, who was dodging more acid from yet another of the Lips beasts that were in the area. Tianxia dropped to the ground and rolled, three pools of acidic slime sloshing as they hit the ground next to him. “Damn this is annoying,” he growled as he got to his feet. He dashed at the nearest Lips, only to again be forced to dodge and weave as the three plant-beasts spat their deadly goo at him. “Daaammn IIIT!” he half-shouted, “These pests are freaking ticking me off!” His eyes narrowed, eyebrows creased, as he filled with aggravation and anger at the annoying monsters. He stood still, waiting for the next volley of slime to be hurled at him. The plant beasts tilted their “heads” –the flowers- back, then whipped forward, spitting again at the fighter. Tianxia dodged to the side, evading the attacks, then drove at the nearest Lips again; planting his foot and leaping to the side as they tilted their heads back again, changing course and heading for the second-closest beast instead. As the three plants spit at where they thought the fighter would be, Tianxia landed by the middle plant and spun, sword cleaving through the beast’s stalk. He used the momentum of the spin to leap into the air and flatten out –dodging another set of acidic globs that had been intended for him; as he landed he pushed off and quickly struck down the farthest one.

The remaining Lips hurled its head back, focused on the fighter with its back turned to it, ready to dissolve the fighter’s armor and flesh with its next attack; but a large piece of thick, blunt, and incredibly heavy metal slammed into the top of the Lips’ head, smashing it in and killing the beast. “Forget that one?” Laifu asked Tianxia with a grin. “Not at all,” Tianxia replied looking over his shoulder at him, “I simply knew that given your placement, you could attack that one and kill it while I took out the other two.” Laifu nodded, “Ah…Might I ask that next time I be informed of the strategy if it involves me attacking?” Tianxia straightened, turning toward him, “You were informed, Laifu.” Tianxia grinned, “I said you would need to back me up –that involves healing when needed and attacking when prudent.” Laifuu opened his mouth to object, then closed it and shook his head, “Not many fighters rely on clerics for attacking.” Tianxia’s grin spread, “Not many clerics object to being asked to help in attacking.”

Having lost both Kaya and Trey in Elderine, Tianxia had been forced to request a new party after the teleportation kicked in –unfortunately, no one wanted him in their party. Tianxia was a fighter, but he lacked the defensive appeal of a shield-bearing tanker, and since he used a two-handed sword instead of an axe –which dealt more damage than the two hander- he had been deemed unneeded in the parties that formed. Fortunately, Laifu, a slightly lower level cleric, had also been deprived of a party; so they decided they would watch each other’s backs –and in so doing, they somehow became the ones to watch everyone else’s backs.

Mumbling incoherently, Blade Fiend ran past the fighter and cleric, head swaying and course changing constantly. Tianxia looked behind him, at the crowd of adventurers fighting an enormous beast that looked like a cross between a human and wolf carrying two blades glowing with energy –the menace had been dubbed Returned Robo (someone just liked the double “r” and it stuck). “Robo’s Mind Drain,” Tianxia sighed as he looked back at Blade Fiend, “I hate that skill.” “Doesn’t everyone?” Laifu asked from beside him.

Mind Drain –a skill Robos, some ghosts and high level mages possessed, was a defensive spell which caused an attacking opponent to lose control over their body and run away. As the person fought the spell they would randomly change course or talk in gibberish until the spell wore off and they regained control. Many people called this skill “fear” as it usually caused you to run away from whatever you were attacking; Tianxia preferred to call it “stupidity” because you would usually run INTO other enemies during the spell’s duration –when you were unable to attack or defend.

Still babbling nonsensically, the fighter changed course again, drawing the attention of several large Ogres that had been standing about twenty meters away. Shaking his head, Fiend snapped out of his confused state and began running back toward Robo –seemingly oblivious to the fact that the Ogres were following him. “Aw come on!” Tianxia, said as the fighter ran toward Robo, running himself at the Ogres, “There’s no way he can’t know those things are following him! Why is he running back to the crowd where they will attack everyone else!?” “Because he knows you’ll intervene before you allow that to happen.” Laifu said as he ran next to him. Tianxia growled, “Hmph…and that one fighter keeps saying I don’t do anything to assist here, too. I really need to stop helping these guys and let them get knocked senseless once or twice.” Laifu grinned, “But then they’d yell at you for not doing your job.” Tianxia skidded to a halt in front of the charging Ogres, “What job? I never said I was gonna be the go-to-guy for stopping everyone from getting mobbed by their own stupid laziness!” Laifu shrugged, “You’ve done it more than once…as far as they are concerned, it’s your job to do it now.”

Growling, Tianxia looked at the incoming Ogres; still focused on the fighter behind him. He shook his head, then released a burst of energy that shot outward. The energy distorted the area around him, playing tricks on the eyes of nearby monsters; making Tianxia seem much bigger and stronger than he actually was, making his sword seem to shine with incredible power –a skill called “mock”. Using mock would make the fighter seem more threatening to nearby monsters, drawing their attention from whatever they were attacking to the fighter –as long as whatever they were attacking wasn’t more threatening than the mock skill made the fighter out to be. The charging Ogres saw the strong fighter with the deadly sword standing before them, readying to attack; and decided that leaving this fighter behind them to attack the other would be a mistake.

The first Ogre arrived, raising its large club as it readied to smash the fighter into the ground. Tianxia ran forward, ignoring the first of the large green beasts, and charged at the second Ogre, which was preparing to heft its own club. He leapt forward, landing on the beast’s club and brought the weapon to the ground. As the large monster tried to heft the weapon again Tianxia thrust forward with his sword and impaled the Ogre. As he pulled his sword back he yelled in pain –the first Ogre had come back and knocked him full-broadside with its club. Tianxia skidded and rolled across the dirt and rock floor of the canyon bed for five meters before finally coming to a stop. Skin glowing blue as Laifu cast a healing spell, Tianxia got back to his feet and hefted his sword, four of the large green beasts standing before him, slowly closing distance as they prepared to attack. The powerful Ogres suddenly collapsed as a pain-wracked roar filled the canyons. Tianxia turned to see the Returned Robo, body covered in cuts, poison arrows and burn marks, staggering. The large Robo planted its blades in the ground as it tried to stay on its feet; but its strength had left it; its hands slipped free of the swords and its body fell to the ground. Tianxia looked back at the Ogres lying still on the ground; as the large beast that had summoned the Ogres died, so did the Ogres. “Dang,” he muttered as he looked at the green beasts, “That’s gotta suck to know about yourself.”

Once more the adventurers cheered at their success, having dropped four immense beasts during their time here so far. Tianxia and Laifu walked back into the group of adventurers as they started to calm down –slightly. “Time?” someone asked as they began to walk deeper into the canyons. “A little less than fourteen minutes,” someone replied. Xin Xin, one of the axe-wielding fighters, grinned happily as they walked, “Wow; we’re doing well –this is going pretty fast.” Ghent, the other axe-wielder, glanced at Tianxia, then looked back at Xin Xin, “Yeah; but it would go faster if SOME people would actually HELP, instead of standing out of the way watching everyone else do all the work.” Tianxia sneered, preparing to make a comment, but a nearby archer put his hand on the fighter’s shoulder; Tianxia looked over at the archer, who shook his head. “Don’t worry,” Laifu whispered, “Most people here know what we’ve been doing.” “You know,” Blade Fiend said as they walked, “My map says this branch of the canyon dead-ends in a crater-like section up ahead. You think that’s where we’ll find the minnn…the minn…mini…” His voice trailed off, everyone stood frozen in place as their eyes stood fixed on the massive creature standing off in the distance. This beast was much larger than any of the others they had seen so far; with a large body, long neck and tail, skinny legs and relatively short wings. “…dragon?” he finished quietly after a few seconds. Everyone was silent for about twenty seconds as they stared at the large creature wandering about the open area ahead. “THAT’s a mini-dragon?!” a nearby mage yelped, “That thing is huge!” “How the Hell is THAT,” he jabbed a finger in the beast’s direction as he looked around at the other adventurers, “A MINI-dragon?!!” Tianxia shrugged, “Well…I guess it would depend on how exactly you define ‘mini’ to be.” Despite their own worries, Laifu and the two tankers chuckled lightly at Tianxia’s comment; the mage turned to glare angrily, “Not hel-PING!!”

Orchids_Mantis

09-28-2009, 07:44 PM

Chapter 10: …Define “Mini”…

As the summons descended the cliffside the dragon again stomped forward, stomping and biting at Oscar and Blade Fiend. Ghent charged in, swinging his axe at the creature’s belly; Xin Xin following suit and swinging her axe at one of its legs as the archers and mages again began lobbing their attacks at the summons, dropping most of them before they even reached the base of the cliff. The great beast lowered its head and spewed a small inferno at the four fighters surrounding it, but they and the clerics supporting them had anticipated the attack, all of them remaining standing as the flame died out. Deciding he’d rather not take a chance at being hit by the flame, Tianxia ran behind the large beast and began hacking at the back of one leg -though trying to cut into this thing’s leathery hide was akin to using a dagger to cut through hardwood. “Ghent, Xin, Tianxia!” Oscar shouted as he dodged the large beast’s jaws, “We’re good for now, go finish off the mobs that are left before they reach the others!” Xin Xin and Tianxia nodded, moving to intercept what remained of the summoned beasts; Ghent snorted and waited a brief moment before complying.

There weren’t many that made it to the base of the cliff, the dragon’s placement of its summons was good for appearance –perhaps designed more in the hope of frightening off the band of adventurers- but the long descent allowed for the mages and archers to kill many of them before they were even considered a threat. Tianxia charged forward and swung his blade up, cleaving a preoccupied Spider in two as he passed by, driving forward at a small group of Procks. Charging ahead of him, Ghent hefted his axe and darted up to the small clove of Procks. The green plant-beasts turned to spit their digestive enzyme at him, but Ghent rotated quickly and slammed his axe into the ground, using the effect of Devastate to paralyze them temporarily. With a look approaching disdain, Ghent quickly mowed down the group of Procks, then moved on to slice through a nearby Bat. His target no longer available, Tianxia set his sights on three Spiders charging a cleric, which were quickly decimated by a series of massive explosions from several nearby mages. He looked around, seeing Ghent and Xin Xin finishing off the last few summoned beasts; and decided to return to trying to give what assistance he could to stopping the dragon itself.

Seeing its summons destroyed so quickly, and groaning at the pain that the adventurers –now focused on it- were causing, the dragon again decided to try to recover its wounds –perhaps when it regenerated this time they would go away. Once again, as it came out of its healing state, it was upset to find that the group of adventurers was still there, still attacking it. The beast grew furious at the adventurers; it looked at the small force that had assembled to attack it, and decided that it was time they should leave. It flapped its wings, taking to the sky and drawing energy –below some of the adventurers began to move away- then dropped to the ground, releasing its energy as it landed, sending the fighters at its base tumbling to the ground. The dragon beat its wings again as the fighters got to their feet, using potions, stones or the healing spells of clerics to recover; only to fall down once more as the dragon again smashed into the ground.

“Dang,” Tianxia muttered as he picked himself up –seeing the dragon going skyward once more, “That thing’s ticked this time, huh?” “You noticed?” Laifu said from next to him. They each yelled as the dragon hit the ground again –knocking them back yet again. “Just a feeling,” Tianxia said as he sat up, “I can’t be entirely sure –I’m not fluent in dragon…it’s possible it’s happy and just thinks it’s playing with us.” Ahead, the dragon began howling; this time a dozen enemies –consisting of Hobs and Procks- appeared at its base, surrounding the two tankers still at its feet. “Then again,” Tianxia grunted as he stood and drew his sword, “There’s also the possibility that it’s trying to kill us.” Xin Xin and Ghent rushed in, archers and mages opening up on the dragon once more as the fighters prepared to slice through the mobs –but the dragon was not finished. Its eye glowed and it stared at Oscar for a moment; the tanker suddenly went semi-limp from the waist up and began running in random directions. “Mind Drain!?” Ghent shouted, “This thing can use Mind Drain as well!?” Not wasting a moment, Blade Fiend mocked to draw the beast’s attention toward him before it could go after the second line; the dragon turned to look at Fiend, who suddenly went limp and began running as well. “You’ve gotta be kidding!” shouted Laifu, “It can use it twice in a row!?” “So it would seem,” another cleric answered. The dragon raised its head, not bothering with the nearby axe-wielding fighters as they tried to keep the Hobs and Procks at bay, and began to stomp toward the small gathering of mages, archers and clerics that had been standing about fifteen meters away.

Tianxia, having been knocked away during the dragon’s stomping stint- watched as the large beast began to approach, “Oh this is just perfect.” He looked back at Laifu with a face of annoyance and resignation. “Oh no,” Laifu said with a wince, “You’re not about to do what I think you’re about to do, are you?” He shook his head, “We don’t have much of a choice, do we? Now are you going to help me or not?” Laifu shook his head and stepped forward, “Well like you said, we don’t have much choice now.” Tianxia turned, seeing the dragon about eight meters out, and drew his sword. He growled softly, “I hate this part,” then ran forward and mocked to grab the large reptilian beast’s attention from the other adventurers. The dragon reared, opening its mouth as the fighter raced past it. Intense flame shot forward, covering the ground and enveloping the fighter; the heat and force of the flame was so great that the barrier cast by Laifu was unable to block it all, forcing Tianxia to use a stone to ensure he wouldn’t fall.

Racing forward, he chanced a look behind himself, seeing the angry beast pursuing him –and easily gaining. He shook his head as he ran, looking ahead to see the immense cliff wall. He spun around and drew his sword as the dragon charged forward, lunging and snapping its mighty jaws at the tiny fighter. As Tianxia started to run to another corner, the dragon kicked at the fighter, knocking him into the rock wall. He fell to the ground with a clatter; the dragon placing its foot on the fighter’s lower body, slowly adding weight. Tianxia yelled as bones cracked and snapped under the beast’s immense girth, he struggled to try and pull himself out from under the creature’s foot, but the creature was far too heavy for that despite his desperate attempts. His knee shattered, his femur split, part of the bone being shoved down into the ground, breaking through the skin; at last his spine broke –in several places- and he lost all feeling beneath his ribs. The world spun, sounds were distant, everything seemed fuzzy and his arms no longer supported the weight of his upper body; he fell to the ground in a haze –not even noticing that the dragon was no longer attacking him. A cooling wind rushed across his body, resetting and fusing bones and nerve connections, healing open wounds and bringing Tianxia’s mind back into focus. “Tianxia! You alright?” Laifu asked as he ran up next to him. He grabbed his fallen sword and got to his feet, “Rgh. Aside from just having had a dragon step on me and feeling like I’m about to vomit…yeah I’m peachy.” He looked over at the dragon –once again occupied by the taunts of Oscar and Blade Fiend, and raised his sword as he charged in at the large beast, slicing and stabbing at any area that appeared vulnerable.

The adventurers continued to attack the mini dragon; after several minutes and another regeneration attempt, the dragon snorted, shaking its head and backing away from the adventurers, limping slightly and bleeding heavily from several areas. “We’ve got it!” Oscar shouted, “It’s about to drop!” The mini dragon straightened as best as it could; a bright light appearing beneath its feet; as the light faded, before them stood three incredibly large Werebears and several smaller –though still huge to a human or elf- Ogres. Without thought or question, the enemies turned and charged at the Isyan force. With their large paws, the three Werebears began swatting at the fighters while the Ogres started to make their way toward the mages and archers. Oscar, with two of the large bear creatures following him, charged into the midst of the Ogres and mocked; drawing the attention of the final Werebear as well. “Oscar!” his cleric shouted, “What are you doing!? I can’t cover that kind of damage!” The fighter did his best to block or dodge the clubs and claws being swung at him, ignoring the question as more clerics began to cast spells or focus chants on the tanker. “Whatever you guys have left,” Xin Xin shouted as she sliced into an Ogre’s belly, “Use it!”

From a distance, it may have appeared there was a celebration in the deep gorge. Light flashed and explosions boomed; loud shouts and cheers could be heard for miles around the canyon’s edge. Minutes later, under a barrage of blades, magic spells and poison-tipped arrows, the last of the great Werebear beasts fell to the ground –a severely clawed up tanker standing in shredded armor panting heavily at its feet. Tianxia turned toward the other fighter, “That was a gutsy move, Oscar.” The tanker gave a fatigued grin, “You didn’t think you were the only crazy fighter out there, did you?” “Hey guys,” Xin Xin said stepping forward, “Where’s the dragon?” All present went silent, scouring the crater and skies –some of the faster ones even searched the canyon stretched out behind them; but no sign of the large beast remained. Tianxia sagged, “After all that…the dragon got away.”

Laifu made a face, then shrugged, “Well; at least we got rid of the summoned beasts –and that dragon won’t be wandering around here anytime soon, so the miners will be safe for a while.” “Speaking of miners,” Blade Fiend grinned as he stepped up to a chunk of the purple ore on the ground, “Since the dragon IS gone…I think I’ll take a bit of this for myself.” The rest of the adventurers looked at each other for a moment, then joined Blade Fiend in mining until the warp magic wore out and they were transported back to town.

Upon his arrival in Elderine, Tianxia had hoped to see Kaya waiting for him; and was a bit dejected at seeing that she was not –he had anticipated Trey having found something else to do, so he was not surprised to find Trey missing as well. He smiled a bit as he talked to himself, “Eh, it was a bit of a long time to wait in this crowded place; she probably wandered off somewhere where there are fewer people. Guess I’ll go find her.” He grinned as he started walking up the street, “Hehehe; maybe I can sneak up on her and give her a surprise.”

Kaya sighed as she reclined with her head on Trey’s shoulder, the cleric looked over at her, “What is it?” She shook her head, “I just can’t stop worrying about him.” Trey’s face darkened, “Ah…him again.” “I’m sorry,” she answered as she reached up and grabbed one of his shoulders. Trey shook his head, “Kaya…I can’t keep doing this…I want to be with you.” She snuggled a bit, “You ARE with me.” “In the open, I mean,” Trey answered, “I’m tired of slinking around behind Tianxia’s back and out of everyone’s sight! I’m tired of saying ‘I have to go to storage’ just so we can be together for a few minutes. For Teva’s sake we just had to pay a mage twenty silver to join that quest from Shutian just so we could have a little time alone together today!” She nodded, “I know, dear. I am tired of it as well.” He sat up and looked at her, “So then break it off with him already!” “It’s not that easy,” she answered as she sat up to look back at him, “I don’t want to hurt him –I still care about him.” “More than me?” he demanded. Her mouth dropped slightly, “No. I just...” She paused, Trey sat unmoving and silent as she tried to find the words she needed, “I will tell him, I promise, I just…I need to wait for the right time.” Trey said nothing, he just stared. “Oh come on,” she cooed as she leaned in, “Don’t be jealous. I love you, Trey,” she kissed him gently on the cheek and gave him a smile, which quickly faded; Trey still did not move, his vision remained locked –and Kaya noticed that it was not on her, his eyes had not moved when she had. “Honey?” she called at the cleric –who remained unresponsive, “Trey? What’s wrong?” She turned around, face paling at the sight of a blue-haired fighter standing behind them; his face was set as stone, eyes filled with pain and rage, his shaking hand brandished a powerful sword. Kaya tried to speak, but her mouth refused to move, she tried to swallow, but the lump in her throat prevented it, her body completely ignored anything she told it to do as she continued to look at the fighter. After what felt like an eternity had passed, she regained enough control to utter a single word, “Tianxia.”

Tianxia said nothing as he began walking forward, the look in his eyes made Kaya want to run, but she had again lost control of her limbs. Tianxia’s pace seemed designed to torment, each step was taken slowly, each footfall audible against the stone tiling of Elderine, and the tip of the blade swung slightly from one side to the other –pointing from Trey to Kaya- as he walked. The fighter stopped a few meters away; glaring eyes seeming to be locked on both the cleric and archer at the same time, a stare so cold it was felt more than seen. Tianxia shut his eyes for a moment and took an audibly long breath. Hand and sword still shaking, eyes still burning, he looked at his two friends. “I feel,” he at last said in a dark voice, “That I am owed an explanation for this development.” Trey managed to break from the fighter’s gaze, his eyes now locked on the sword –which was much closer than he should have liked, given the fighter’s obvious anger –and that he had unequipped his shield and hammer. Unbelievably as it may seem, Tianxia’s eyes turned even darker at their silence. He lifted his sword, looking at the long blade, his brows creased as he set the sword across his back and looked back at them again, “I’m waiting.”

Orchids_Mantis

09-29-2009, 10:51 PM

Chapter 11: Rebounded

“Oh shoot,” the fighter moaned. Tianxia looked over at her, “Hm? What’s the matter?” She pursed her lips as she looked at the display of the vendor in front of her, “I’m ten silver short for this pair of boots.” “Another pair of boots?” Tianxia chuckled, “You already have two pair besides the ones you are wearing.” He looked closer at the vendor, “Besides, you can’t even use them yet –and they seem a bit overpriced.” “But these are good,” she muttered as she kept gazing at the armor. She started to fidget, jumping up and down slightly, “Mmmmm.” She straightened and turned to Tianxia, “Okay! Wait here, make sure no one else buys them, okay?” He tilted his head, “Huh? Where are you going?” “I’m gonna go see if I have anything I can sell for ten silver!” she replied quickly, “Just wait here and make sure no one else buys them, alright?” “I know what you have in your storage, Ideal,” Tianxia answered, “Unless you sell one of your good items –which I know you won’t- you won’t get ten silver.” Her face fell as she slumped slightly; Tianxia shook his head, sighing as he dug into his bag, “Here. I’ll make up the difference.” “Eeee!” the girl squealed as she hugged him, “Thank you!” Tianxia chuckled and shook his head, “You’re welcome.” The fighter turned and quickly purchased the boots; running off to storage with them.

“That,” came a voice from behind, “Was a sad display, Tianxia.” He turned to see who made the comment, smiling at seeing a familiar face, “Roddimus! I haven’t seen you in ages! How’ve you been?” The cleric smiled back at him, “I’ve been well, I guess. Having a bit of trouble finding a reliable party these days –everyone either wants a heal-slave that has no mind, or won’t share drops…makes earning a living difficult for a cleric that wants to actually use his hammer.” He looked back in the direction the girl had run off in, “I’ve talked with Brojam…he told me about what happened between you and Kaya.” Roddimus looked down for a moment, “Sorry to hear about you guys breaking up.” Tianxia’s face fell, “He heard about it from Kaya and Trey –she didn’t ‘break up’ with me, she and that rat Trey stabbed me in the back.” “Kaya told Bro the full story, Tianxia,” Roddimus replied, “I used the term ‘break up’ because it sounded better.”

Tianxia said nothing, he looked out at the fields of Uruga as Roddimus continued, “According to Brojam, she was in tears the whole time.” “Self pity at being caught, and trying to get sympathy from others, nothing more,” Tianxia replied hotly, “She can save her crocodile tears for someone that cares.” “Bro said her tears were more tears of fright,” the cleric looked over at the fighter, “fright from you; and your reaction when you caught them.” Tianxia scowled, “They sent me off on my own to fight a dragon, hoping I would not come back. When I did return I found them not only to be romantically involved behind my back, but speaking of how they wished I was not around. I would say I had a right to be angry.” Roddimus looked closer at the fighter, “You drove your sword into the ground between them while they were holding each other.” Tianxia said nothing as Roddimus continued, “You broke Trey’s collarbone.” Tianxia scoffed, crossing his arms, “That’s his fault -he would have been fine if he hadn’t landed on his neck.” “After you dislocated his shoulder and then threw him through a window,” the cleric finished. Tianxia made a thoughtful gesture –eyes still dark, “Well…it was more like I dislocated his arm WHILE throwing him through a window…or throwing him through a window while dislocating his arm.” He gave a dismissive wave, “Ah however you want to say it the point is it was one action that had both results, not two separate actions –and the dislocation of his shoulder was purely unintentional…though more than welcome at the time.” “You grabbed Trey by the throat, pinned him against a wall and threatened to cut off his arms,” Roddimus added. “I threatened to cut off a lot more than his arms,” Tianxia thought with grim humor, “Though I guess at the moment his arms were the higher priority –since being a cleric he needed them to heal himself.”

Tianxia narrowed his eyes, “Sounds like she was pretty accurate with her description. I’m impressed. I thought she’d make up some crap about me double crossing her so she’d look innocent.” Roddimus made a face, “Tianxia, Bro went and saw her because Trey didn’t know what to do! She wouldn’t leave her house for three weeks! She just sat under her bed in tears!” Tianxia made a sarcastically sad face, “Awww, wuzh deh liddle guwl cwy-eeng?” The sarcastic expression left as he continued to speak, “I’d be a lot more moved if she’d been crying about what she’d done instead of what I did.” Roddimus crossed his arms, “She thought you were going to kill her.” “The thought crossed my mind as well,” Tianxia growled back. Roddimus straightened, “You don’t mean that.” Tianxia’s shoulders sagged and his head hung, “No…no I don’t mean that. But I’m not feeling any pity for that brat or her boyfriend.” His brows creased and he turned to look at Roddimus, “And if it’s alright with you I’d prefer not to talk about them; I am usually able to be in a good mood when those traitors are not in my thoughts!” Roddimus nodded, “Alright, fine. I just wanted to express my condolences.” Tianxia’s face softened, “I know. I’m sorry…it’s still a touchy subject for me.” “Hadn’t noticed,” the cleric thought sarcastically, “This will be even harder than Bro said.” “You mentioned Bro,” Tianxia said after a moment, “How’s he doing?” “He’s his usual self,” Roddimus grinned, “He’s training near Uruga today, in fact.” Tianxia smiled, “Oh is he? Heh. Seems a bit of a low area for him.” “It is,” Roddimus nodded, “He was just having fun testing out new spell combinations on the local Orc population. Actually I just saw him this morning hanging around by the big staircase.”

Roddimus looked at the fighter, “He mentioned your new girlfriend…Ideal, was it?” Tianxia grinned, “Blabbermouth.” “He said that it doesn’t seem wise for you to be in a relationship again after only two months,” Roddimus spoke up. “Judgmental blabbermouth,” he chuckled “…and how every time he sees you with her, he sees you buying stuff for her,” Roddimus finished. Tianxia shrugged, “Eh, I do spoil her a bit.” “He says you bought her two of the same piece of armor, both refined, in the same day,” Roddimus answered. Tianxia began to scowl again, “This is sounding less and less like the idle chit-chat of two friends that have not seen each other in a long time and more like the lead-up to an intervention.” Roddimus looked away, “I guess you could consider it that, Tianxia. He felt that you might not be aware of what everyone else seems to notice.” He sighed, “And what would that be, exactly?” Roddimus looked back in the direction Ideal had gone, “That her affections will only last as long as your silver does.”

Tianxia frowned, “I don’t believe this; first you bring up that hussy and her lap dog, now you’re saying that my girlfriend is just using me as a tool to buy her stuff!” Roddimus straightened, “Tianxia I have seen you with her for ten minutes and in that ten minutes she got you to buy her three items!” “She didn’t ‘get me to buy her’ jack!” he snapped, “I bought those for her by my choice! She never asked me to get them for her!” “She doesn’t have to, Tianxia, she knows what she needs to do to get you to buy an item,” he replied. “That’s it!” Tianxia shouted, “Enough, Roddimus! If all you and Bro are going to do is question my girlfriend’s intentions then you can BOTH just leave me the hell alone!” Roddimus raised his hands, “Alright, alright. I’ll go.” He started to walk away, then turned and looked back at Tianxia, “Tianxia…ask and answer yourself this one question: When have you been with Ideal and NOT bought her something –be it from your goodwill or her asking?” Tianxia stepped forward, eyes darkening as he pointed in the direction Roddimus had been walking, “GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE, RODDIMUS!”

“So,” the mage said as Roddimus walked down the stairs, “How’d it go?” Roddimus shook his head, “Not very well, I’m afraid, Bro.” He looked up at the city, in the general area where Tianxia had been waiting for Ideal, “He seems unreachable.” “He’s human,” Bro replied, “He’s hurt, and he wants to find a way to stop it from hurting –he thinks this will.” “It will only hurt him more in the end,” Roddimus said back. Bro nodded, Roddimus shook his head, “He wouldn’t even listen…how do you help people when they don’t listen?” Bro looked over at the mage with a sad smile, “That is a question Tianxia once asked.” Roddimus looked over, “What was the answer?” Bro shook his head, “There isn’t one. You do what you can to help the person; but in the end, it is their choice to make as to whether they keep being fooled, or wake up and see the truth of the problem.” They started to walk away from the city, Roddimus sighed, “But he doesn’t want to wake up and see it.” “Not many do,” Bro answered, “Not many of them ever do.”

Two weeks later, Tianxia was walking through Uruga, a very happy Ideal skipping along beside him. “The sword is so shiny,” she said as she held the weapon –shining a blue light of energy. She turned and kissed Tianxia on the cheek quickly, “Thank you!” “You need to stop saying that,” he grinned, “I told you; if you need something from me, just ask.” “I feel kinda bad, though,” she said as she stopped bouncing. Tianxia looked down at her, “Hm? About what?” She made a face, “Well, we spent some gold on me over the last few weeks…it just makes me feel kind of bad that we only spend money on me.” Tianxia chuckled, “I’m fine with it.” Ideal jumped in front of him, “I know, let’s splurge on you a bit!” Tianxia laughed as he shook his head, “No, no –I don’t need anything new.” “Aw come on,” she cooed, “At least a weapon, huh? To match the one you got me? I saw one that looked great for you a little ways back. Pleeeeaaase?” “I’m not getting myself a weapon,” he answered, “I like the one I have.” “Then I’ll get it and give it to you,” she smiled. He sighed, “I’m not getting out of this, am I?” “Nope,” she grinned. “Alright, alright,” he nodded, “How much was it?” “I think about two gold,” she answered thoughtfully. Tianxia hesitated a moment –that was close to all he had left, “That seems very pricey for a single weapon.” “It’s a good weapon,” she smiled, “Promise.” Reluctantly the fighter relinquished the money to the girl; who smiled and hugged him as she accepted it. “Okay, wait right here,” she said with a wink, “Be back in a flash.”

Tianxia chuckled to himself as he watched Ideal vanish into the crowded markets of Uruga, “Crazy girl.” He stood in place for ten minutes, thinking to himself about many things at once, thoughts interrupted as a mage walked up to him. “Umm, hey,” the mage called, “You Tianxia?” The fighter looked up, “Yes. What is it?” The mage handed him a piece of paper, “Someone asked me to give this to you.” The mage walked away as Tianxia unfolded the paper. As he read the writing it contained, his heart fell into his stomach.

“Tianxia,
Thanks for the items and the gold, it was fun while it lasted, but I’m afraid I’m off to better things.
Goodbye,
Ideal”

Orchids_Mantis

10-01-2009, 11:46 PM

Chapter 11: Rebounded

“That’s not what I think it is, is it?” James asked as he pointed to the cup on the table. “If you were thinking something other than Templer’s Ale, then no, it’s not,” Tianxia chuckled. Templer’s Ale was a drink given its name not because of its developer, but because many who drank it compared the sudden wave of heat that hit someone after drinking it to being hit by a blast from a Karasian Templer. “You sure you should be drinking that?” James asked as he sat down. Tianxia glared lightly, “Given what’s happened the last six or so weeks,” he paused to take another drink from the cup, “I’d say it’s warranted.” He looked up at the smith, “Want any?” The smith shook his head, “No thanks; if I drink that stuff the swords I make will start having unintended curves in them.” Tianxia took another gulp of the dark liquid, coughing lightly, “If you’re sure.” “I’m sure I shouldn’t have it –I’m not sure you should,” the smith replied. Tianxia drained the cup, setting it down heavily, “My girlfriend betrays me with someone I trust, I run my only other friends off when they try to help me, I fall for a scammer and lose all my money, then I return home to find my mother died three days before I arrived. Not only should I have this,” he said as he looked around the room, “but I should probably have another.” He motioned to the waiter, who came over and picked up his cup and carried it off –for the third time. James looked at the weapon sitting next to the fighter, “An axe? Since when do you use an axe? I thought you preferred swords.” “Swords are a naive concept,” Tianxia replied in an angered haze, “They are the instruments of dreamers, a romantic ideal of good notions that aren’t feasible. One takes a sword because they wish to look and act like a hero; but in truth, they are fools. The sword is weak; the axe deals much greater damage, it is much faster and more effective than the sword.” “So you traded it for an axe?” James asked. Tianxia laughed sharply, picking up his cup to take another drink as the waiter returned, “Heh, no. I picked up this axe a while ago –from a Pixy that had the misfortune to cross in front of me. The sword…I left that piece of crap sitting somewhere in Uruga. Let some other dreamer use that thing…I woke up.”

The smith frowned a bit as the fighter spoke, “Is this why you called me here? To complain as you drown yourself in that crud?” Tianxia sat still a moment, then reached into his bag, “No. No I had a reason to ask you here.” He tossed a bag of coins onto the table, James raised an eyebrow, “What’s this?” “This, tiny little bag,” Tianxia said as he took a few coins out, “Aside from these two coins here –which are my tab for today; comprises the remainder of my silver and copper –there’s about fifteen silver four hundred copper in there still.” Tianxia placed the two coins he’d taken next to his plate, then slid the bag across the table, “You take it.” James looked at the bag, then the fighter, “I don’t need more silver, Tianxia; I make plenty. You take it –you’ll need it for your next weapon.” Tianxia set his cup down again, shaking his head, “There is no ‘next weapon’, James.” Tianxia looked up, “I’m done –no more of this adventurer crud for me.” He motioned at the bag of silver, “Use this as funding for some of those newby quests you give out so often; maybe with you the silver will actually be useful to someone besides a scammer.”

James was taken aback, “You’re resigning from adventurer status?” “Pretty much sums it up,” Tianxia said with a slight weave as he sat. “What about the monsters?” James asked. “Oh, they might miss me at first, but I’m sure they will get over it,” Tianxia laughed. James made a face, “I thought you came to Rumen to help defeat them.” Tianxia looked up again, “I’ve been fighting them for almost a year now, James…and you know what progress I’ve seen? None. Actually, it’s been negative; the monsters have been spreading and multiplying despite my actions and those of other adventurers –I’m sure my measly contributions won’t be missed.” “What about protecting the people?” James asked. “These evil people don’t deserve protecting,” Tianxia answered. James shook his head, “Well then protect the good ones, the ones in the towns and villages that can’t protect themselves.” “Poor, rich, defenseless, strong,” Tianxia replied slowly, “These things have no impact on whether a person is good or bad. I’m from the villages, James, I have seen how the poor and weak are; they can be not only as bad as the strong and rich, they can be worse –at least the rich and strong take advantage of strangers, but the poor and weak will take advantage of people they have known for years, betray their neighbors, plot against friends.” Tianxia shook his head, finishing the drink in his cup again, “There is nothing here worth protecting for me, James.” “I’m sorry to hear that, Tianxia,” the smith answered as the fighter stood. Tianxia hesitated a moment, “I know you had higher expectations of me, James –I’m sorry as well.”

Tianxia grabbed his axe and started to walk away, James turned, “So where are you going, if not the villages?” Tianxia stopped, “The forest,” he answered, “I’m going to live where no one else does, where no one else will bother me and where I in turn will not bother others.” “The forest of Mist?” James asked, “You will not be alone there.” “Ancient Elven Woods,” James’ eyes widened as the fighter continued, “It’s big enough place that I will not have a problem finding a spot for myself where no one frequents.” “The monsters in there are very strong, Tianxia,” James said carefully. Tianxia hefted his axe, “That’s what this is for.” “And shelter?” James asked. Tianxia grinned slightly, “I’m going to have an axe and be surrounded by trees. I think I’ll make do.” Tianxia turned and walked to the door, “See you later, James. And see to it that something good actually comes of that silver, huh?” With that the fighter opened the door and stepped out, vanishing from sight. James looked down at the table, at the small bag sitting on its edge. He sighed, shaking his head as he reached down and picked it up, then looked back at the empty doorway, “Good luck, Tianxia.”

Orchids_Mantis

10-01-2009, 11:47 PM

Chapter 12: The Heart of a Fighter

A booming crash sounded throughout the nearby forest as the large tree slammed its branch-fist into the ground; a small cloud rising from the impact sight. As the dust cleared, the beast was startled to see that it had missed –the fighter was standing several meters to the side. The fighter turned, looking at the wreckage of the small wooden domicile that the tree had destroyed with its attack, then turned back to glare at the large plant-beast. “You crushed my HOUSE! Do you have ANY idea how long that took me to make –especially given that the only tool I have is a freaking AXE?!” the fighter shouted as he drew his weapon. The tree grinned as it withdrew its branch, clearly not intimidated by the fighter’s weapon. He growled at the tree’s expression, “Find it funny, do you? Fine then; I’ll make my next house out of you!” The Giant Elven Tree struck again at the fighter, who stepped in and to the side, then rotated and swung his axe down, slicing off a long section of the beast’s branch. The tree fell back with a growling wail as it stared at the stump that remained, then looked back at the advancing fighter. The tree sneered, its branch regrowing, and struck at the fighter again –this time losing both its branch-arms. The Giant Elven Tree’s arms sprouted again, but this time hesitated in its attack; backing away slightly as the fighter continued to approach. “Get back over here,” the fighter said as he swung his axe back, “I need at least ten more branches for beams –and your trunk should do for the roof and one or two walls. The rest I’ll get from other Elven Trees –like last time.” The tree straightened –this fighter was not only serious about turning it into a house, but he was actually capable of doing so.

It turned to leave –perhaps it could get the Legendary Tree to assist with this human; the fighter, however, would not have it. “Oh no you don’t!” the fighter shouted as he bolted forward, easily overtaking the slow tree-beast, “You started something with me and you’re darn well gonna finish it!” The fighter ground to a halt and spun, swinging his axe into the beast’s trunk. The beast staggered back, howling loudly at the large gap now present in its trunk. It swung desperately at the fighter, hoping to drive him off, perhaps hit him and knock him away to make an escape, only to lose its arms once again. The Giant Elven Tree regenerated its branches and trunk, turning to run away again, falling to the ground as the fighter sliced through one of its root-legs. The tree rolled onto its back, swiping at the fighter in a last-ditch effort at freedom, its hopes quickly dashed as the fighter’s axe sliced off its branches again. The fighter halted by the beast’s side, staring coldly into its eyes as he raise his axe, “Stop squirming –I don’t want to make the cut too short or I’ll have to find another of you guys to make up for it –which is a waste of wood.” The tree regrew its arms and spun, clawing at the ground as it struggled to its feet and again fled. The ground suddenly dropped from under it, then slammed upwards into its feet while a wave of energy smashed into it from behind; the massive shock leaving the tree paralyzed. The fighter lifted his axe from the ground, shaking his head as he walked up to the tree, “Making me use Devastate just so you will stay and fight? That’s kind of sad.” The tree’s eyes widened as the fighter stood in front of it, gripping his axe and hefting it over his shoulder. The fighter looked up for a brief second, “Don’t worry, I’m pretty sure this only hurts for a moment.” The fighter swung his axe in, severing the upper nine-tenths of the tree from its base; and it crashed to the ground.

“Well that was easy,” Tianxia grinned as he looked at his axe. He looked back at the wreckage of his house and sighed, smile fading, “A lot easier than it will be to rebuild that again.” He looked around at the branches scattered across the forest floor, and the large tree he had felled next to him. He shook his head, “Now the real work starts…yay.” He grabbed one of the large branches near what had once been the Giant Elven Tree’s head, and started pulling it across the mossy ground toward the ruins of his house, grunting a bit from the large tree’s weight. He stopped and turned toward the trunk, eying the wood, noting all the knotholes and bends in the beast’s trunk. “Aw man,” he groaned, “Of all the trees in this forest that could attack my house, I had to get this one.” He shook his head as he started measuring out the tree –trying to see what could be done with it, “Make you into my next house? Pheh. I’ll make you into a table. Some chairs, maybe a door; perhaps even a bookshelf. Firewood, definitely; but my house? Not with wood as crappy-looking as yours.” He got up and wandered around for another few minutes, gathering the branches that he had cut off and laying them next to the trunk in a pile. “Well at least these will be useful,” he said as he looked them over. He sighed again, “Man…it’s gonna take me forever to find enough Elven Trees to rebuild my house.” He looked down at the dead beast, shrugging his hands, “You know…it would be a lot easier on all of you if you’d leave me alone. But nooooo, you have to come over here and bust up my house and try to kill me; and see what happens when you do that?” He looked to the side for a moment, eyebrows furrowing, “Is this bad sign? Not only am I talking to a tree…I’m talking to a DEAD tree.” He shook his head, retrieving his axe again, “Ah well…I’ll worry about sanity later. Time to get back to work.”

He sat back, leaning against the trunk of the tree as he rested in its branches. He’d finished his work for the day –gathering food, water and herbs; now it was time to relax a bit. He pulled out the flute he’d made of bamboo and began playing it lightly –a new hobby of his, which he enjoyed quite a bit despite not being terribly great at playing it. His fingers covered and uncovered the holes he’d drilled in the bamboo rod as he played a series of notes -a piece he had composed himself over the last year or so. The music was slow, a continuous piece whose notes constantly rose and fell in volume and pitch; as though following a bird gliding along an unseen current of air created by winds and the contour of the earth below. As the song ended he dropped the flute from his lip, placing it back in his bag as he took a deep breath; enjoying the serenity of the forest that day. As he sat and listened, he heard a distant commotion –tree leaves rustling as the birds in their branches took flight. He sat up, looking in the direction of the disturbance, wondering what the disturbance was.

Her feet kept going, carrying her swiftly and silently through the forest as her pursuers thundered after her. She tried to steady her breathing as she ran, grabbing an arrow from her quiver and placing it in her bow. She quickly spun, drawing the arrow back, bow straining as it bent; the tip of the arrow glowed as she concentrated energy into it, then released the projectile. The green beast never saw the arrow leave the bow, before it was able to even register its movement, it had cleared the distance between it and the archer, and driven through its chest. The Greenky staggered for a moment, then fell to the ground unmoving as several more monsters dashed past its body. The archer turned and ran once again, folding her hands together. A mist rose from the forest floor as the elf said a quick chant; as the vapor covered everything nearby, she changed directions to lose her pursuers –her keen eyes keeping her from tripping or striking a tree as she ran through the mist. The monsters were not fooled by the tactic, however, and managed to stay on the archer’s trail; losing only a little ground to her. She grabbed another arrow, placed it in her bow and launched it skyward. The arrow quickly rose, using its energy to gain altitude; as its energy ran out, the arrow glowed, gravity pulling it back toward the ground. The glowing arrow suddenly split into a dozen different projectiles, burrowing into the heads and shoulders of the monsters that were chasing the girl –a deadly toxin which had been placed on the arrow’s tip spreading through their veins. She looked back, hoping to see her pursuers gone, but was dismayed to find that they seemed to be able to overpower the poison that had been on her arrow. Looking ahead, she skid to a halt as two large green beasts flew toward her from the front. She grabbed another arrow, placing it against her bowstring as the five remaining Greenky surrounded her from behind, the two Greenky Big spreading out in front of her. The girl looked between the enemies, unsure of which to attack –knowing it would be the last attack she would make.

“Seven against one?” came a voice nearby. The Greenky and archer looked around to see where the voice had come from; a man carrying a large axe stepping into view. The man looked around at the gang of monsters as he walked forward, “That doesn’t seem very sporting –then again, I doubt fair play is what you intended.” The axe fighter walked into the midst of the mobs, standing between the archer and the two Greenky Big, he looked back at her with a wry grin, then turned his focus to the large Greenky again, “Perhaps I should tilt the odds a bit.” In reply, one of the Greenky Big trundled forward, throwing a large fist at the fighter; the fighter laughed as the large Greenky’s fist swung through the air, missing the fighter by a wide margin.

Reacting quickly, the archer drew her arrow again, aiming at one of the still unmoving Greenky, sending her projectile sailing into its chest. The first Greenky fell, waking the remaining four from their semi-stunned state of confusion. The second Greenky Big began attacking the fighter –who was still laughing and dodging their clumsy attacks. “Is that the best you can do?” he goaded as another fist swiped the air in front of him, “Gee, maybe this seven against one thing wasn’t as one-sided as I thought; you guys couldn’t hit an old man with those slow punches, let alone an archer.” One of the blows connected against the fighter, sending him onto his back. The archer looked back at hearing the fighter’s taunting stop, forgetting to watch her own mobs –a hard jab from a Greenky managed to go unnoticed, knocking her out, the rest of the Greenkies swarming around her, pummeling her body. The fighter got to his feet with a chuckle as he looked at the Greenky Big, “Wow. That was sad. I let you actually hit me, and I barely even felt it.” He looked over at the swarm of Greenky, eyes narrowing; his axe shimmered as he spun around quickly, then slammed it into the ground, the shockwave from the attack stunning the beasts. He walked over to the mobs, looking back to see the Greenky Big closing in behind him. He grinned and turned toward them, the remaining Greenky beginning to stir as the stun effect of his Devastate wore off, “Knocking her out was a bad idea.” The Greenky Big seemed to scoff at his remark as they and the other Greenky surrounded the fighter. “You see,” the fighter smirked as he gripped his axe, “I was worried about hitting her myself before; with her out of the way…” He rotated quickly, his axe lashing out and striking at each enemy multiple times as he spun around in a devastating swirl of blades –a fighter attack called Whirlwind. He halted his rotation, coming to a stop to see the Greenky Big and their smaller counterparts all lying motionless on the forest floor. “I can do that,” he finished with a chuckle. He looked back at the girl lying on the ground, shaking his head and sighing a bit. “Now then,” he said as he regarded the unconscious archer, “The question that comes to mind here is: what do I do about you?”

Slowly, the haze began to lift and she came to her senses; her eyes snapped open and she quickly sat up straight as she realized she had lost consciousness. “Ah, you’re awake,” came a familiar voice. She looked to the side to see the fighter from before sitting on a stump, chin resting on the head of his weapon as he looked at her, “I was wondering how long you were gonna stay asleep.” Almost before he saw her move, she grabbed the bow and quiver sitting next to her and sprang to her feet, darting away. He shouted in surprise at seeing her run; quickly he got to his feet and chased after her, but the archer was far faster than he was. Tianxia came to a stop, shoulders rising and falling as he panted; he took a deep breath as he watched the girl vanish into the forest. Confused, he stared incredulously at the part of the forest where the girl disappeared, then shook his head, “You’re welcome.” He turned around and started walking back toward his cabin, muttering to himself about ungrateful people and needing to not get involved in other people’s problems.

Orchids_Mantis

10-08-2009, 05:36 AM

Chapter 12: The Heart of a Fighter

Tianxia sat on the roof of the small house he had built for himself, enjoying the cool air the wood and stone covering gave off in the afternoon sun. He toyed with the idea of playing his flute, knowing he shouldn’t since he still had to gather wood for tonight’s dinner; his thoughts were interrupted as in the reflection from his axe he saw a figure watching him in a tree not too far away. He stretched his arms out, as though stretching a stiff limb from sitting too long. Using the stretch as to cover his movements, he grabbed a stone; arching his back, he gauged the distance between him and the tree the figure was crouched in. Lazily, he got to his feet and stretched his neck, glancing at the reflection to see if the person was still there –he was. Tianxia spun quickly, hurling the stone at the tree; the surprised figure losing their balance and dropping from the branch. As the person fell, Tianxia bolted forward, leaping from the roof and sprinting to the base of the tree, grinding to a halt, eyes widening as he saw who lay beneath its branches. He had only seen her once, and it had been several weeks before, but there was no mistaking her; it was the archer he had seen fighting the Greenkies.

The girl sat on the ground where she had landed, eyes fixated on the axe pointing at her chest. Tianxia stood quiet and motionless for a moment, then moved his axe to the side; the girl broke her stare, looking up at Tianxia. Another moment passed before the fighter broke the silence, “Are you hurt?” The archer furrowed her eyebrows, “Huh?” Tianxia motioned toward her legs, “From the fall…you hurt?” The archer looked away and shook her head. “Ah. Good,” Tianxia answered as he put his axe in its holder on his back. “Sorry about that,” he said as he looked at the archer, “Usually when someone is stalking me it is something intending to kill me.” The girl flushed a little bit, “I’m sorry as well.” Tianxia turned his head to one side as he regarded her, sitting down against a nearby tree, “What were you doing up there, exactly?” Her cheeks went a deeper red and she looked down, “I was…watching you.” “Spying on the neighbor?” Tianxia grinned. The girl shook her head slightly, not commenting, Tianxia looked around, not certain what he should say. “I…never thanked you,” the girl said after a moment. Tianxia looked back at her, “Huh?” Her eyes locked on his, “For helping me before. I never thanked you.” Tianxia chuckled, “You left too fast, I guess.” The girl flushed red again, looking down, Tianxia’s grin faded slightly, “Don’t worry about it. Thanks are not needed –though they are appreciated.” He sat down across from her, back against a nearby tree, “Why did you run off like that last time, anyways?” She shook her head, “I don’t know. I woke up, realized I had been knocked out, then saw you sitting down next to me with a big axe surrounded by the bodies of everything that had been after me.” The girl looked up at him, “I guess…I was just scared; so I ran.”

Tianxia laughed lightly, “Usually only monsters are afraid of me,” he thought for a second then nodded slightly, “Though admittedly, I usually only see monsters around here.” A thought came to his mind and he looked over at the archer, “I’m curious: how long have you been watching me?” Her cheeks reddened once again as she answered, “I’ve…been coming by here for the last two weeks.” Tianxia’s eyes widened, “Two weeks? It took me two weeks before I noticed you?” He looked at the ground off to the side, “Dang…here I thought I was being observant of my surroundings.” The girl smiled a bit, “Don’t take it too hard, I AM an elf; we are very adept at hiding and dodging.” Tianxia raised an eyebrow, “I noticed.” The girl titled her head a bit, “So…how often do you train here? I mean every day I come by you are here –you even built yourself a camp for spending the night; you must train here a lot.” Tianxia smiled lightly, “Well I am here often; but it has nothing to do with training.” He motioned back to the small wooden house, “The reason I am here whenever you come by is because I live here. This is my house, not a camp.” The girl’s eyebrows shot up, “You LIVE here!? In this forest crawling with monsters!?” Tianxia grinned, giving a light shrug, “It’s not as bad as it sounds.” The girl gave an unbelieving look, “I don’t see how you can live here; no monster would allow it –they’d wreck your home and attack you day in and day out. Elves can do it because we live in the trees where monsters can’t reach; but your house is on the ground –anything that moves can get to it.” Tianxia nodded, “Yeah, they attack quite often at first; but after six months or so they get the idea that you aren’t going away –especially after you start using them to repair or replace the items they break.”

The girl looked at him in confusion, “What?” Tianxia shrugged, “Well, there’s about four different big trees that make up the walls of my house, a fifth makes up monst of the beams and roof paneling. The roof is layered with bark from the smaller trees that attacked, as well as chips from Stonies –the larger segments were used to make a chimney and fireplace. The inside walls are lined with a nice material made from Trumpy leathers –it’s very good at blocking whatever wind gets through the wooden walls. The windows are made from Greenky wings –they are thicker and more durable than Pixy wings, and clearer as well. The curtains, though, those are made from the wings of Pixies –lighter, but they have a foggy look to them and usually have additional colors inside, makes it look very nice. Oh yeah, and my pillow and quilt –made from Spider silks- are stuffed with Archon down.” The archer stared at him in silence, Tianxia grinned a bit, “I’ve been living here for more than a year in total; the monsters have by and large given up trying to get me to move.” He looked back at the house, giving a light shrug, “Oh they come by once in a while still –they break something, then I fix it using them, or I go hunt what is needed to fix it- but all in all it’s quite peaceful out here for me.” The girl started to laugh, “I’ve never heard anyone be so calm talking about something like this. Most people would be trying to brag, but you brush it off as though it holds no significance.” Tianxia furrowed his eyebrows, “It’s how I live, why make it out as something more?”

The girl laughed a bit, then looked at the shadows on the ground, “Oh, shoot.” Tianxia looked over at her, “Hm?” “A meeting,” the girl replied as she got to her feet, “I have to go, sorry.” Tianxia nodded, standing up as well, “Understandable.” He flashed his teeth in a wide grin, “Next time you drop by just knock on the door, huh?” The girl’s cheeks went slightly red again as she nodded, “Mm, alright.” Tianxia smiled, a thought making its way into his mind, “Hang on…did I just invite her back?” The girl turned and walked off. “Wait a sec!” Tianxia said as he ran up next to her. The girl stopped and looked at him, “Yes?” “Well, uh…erm,” Tianxia stammered slightly, “I was just wondering…what is your name?” The girl laughed, “Oh right, we skipped introductions, didn’t we? My name is Xiao Yanzi.” “Xiao Yanzi?” Tianxia repeated. The girl nodded, “Yup. Literal translation is Little Sparrow.” “Ah,” Tianxia nodded, “Is that because of your accuracy or something? Like you can hit a sparrow flying through the woods?” She laughed again, “I wish I was that good. No; my parents named me that because when I was young I would often run around in the forest. They said I was as fast and agile as a little sparrow…so that’s what they named me.” She looked at the fighter, “And you are?” “Ah, yes,” Tianxia chuckled, “My name is Li Tianxia; though most just call me Tianxia.” Xiao Yanzi smiled at the fighter, waving her hand, “Well then. I will see you later, Tianxia.” Tianxia smiled back, returning the wave, “Until next time, Xiao Yanzi.” The girl darted off, quickly vanishing from sight, leaving Tianxia standing alone in front of his house, thinking to himself, “There she goes again. Strange girl, that Xiao Yanzi.” He stopped, reflecting on what he just thought, “Xiao Yanzi…I asked her name. Why did I ask for her name? Why did I invite her back here again when the purpose of living here was to be alone?” He turned and started walking into a different section of the woods to gather what he would need later on, “She’s gone…but why am I still bothering to think about her?”

Brush rustled, sticks and dried leaves cracking and crunching as the Slime rushed through the foliage. The large purple mass of living gel thumped and thudded as it continued leaping through the forest. The Slime continued its journey for several minutes before finally coming to rest. The large purple blob squeaked softly, looking from one side to the other, sagging slightly as it found no trace of what is was searching for. “All done?” the Slime straightened up, its soft sides becoming rigid as it heard the comment. The Slime turned around slowly, shaking as it saw where the words had come from. The fighter stepped forward, swinging his axe around behind his back, “That was a pretty good run for a Slime.” The Slime turned around and leapt forward, landing in two piles as the axe swiftly cleaved through its body. “I know I’m too high level to be hunting you under normal circumstances,” the fighter said as he gathered what he could, “It’s nothing personal, I just need something you have for tonight.”

Tianxia smiled as he set the plate down on the table in front of her; Xiao Yanzi gazed in disbelief at the size and colorful array of foods that he had prepared. “Holy cow, Tianxia,” she half-whispered as she gaped at the table, “This looks fantastic.” Tianxia grinned, wiping his hands on a cloth, “Glad you think so.” She looked over at him, “What is it, though?” Tianxia grinned wider, “Something that took a long time to come up with.” He started pointing at various plates, “Here we have the meat of Archon Wings cooked over Giant Elven Tree bark, basted lightly in a Fragrant Mushroom and Violet sauce. This one is the meat of Archon legs slow-cooked over the heated rocks of Ancient Stonies, covered in a spicy Honeying sauce with crushed Fire Vivi crystals for an added kick.” He pointed at another plate, “This is the seafood special: Clam, Crab, Blue Crab and King Crab meats boiled together in a pot of slightly diluted salt water with Ocean Mushroom slices, Slime Jelly and herb leaves.” He pointed to the final dish, a bowl covered in a strange-looking food of multiple bright colors, “Dessert: The jelly of Silver Slime, Gold Slime, Fire Slime and Speedy Slime mixed together, with Ice Vivi crystal shards to freeze the jelly. It’s actually tastes quite good.” Yanzi smiled at the fighter, “Well it certainly looks like it will.” Tianxia grinned as he sat down across from her, motioning toward the plates, “Dig in.” “There’s so much here,” she said looking around the table, “I don’t know how much we’ll be able to eat in one meal.” Tianxia laughed as he took a piece of Archon, “Cooked Archon keeps pretty well. As long as I keep bugs off of it I can eat whatever’s left tomorrow, and it will take days before the Ice Vivi crystals stop cooling the dessert –though don’t let that stop you from eating your fill tonight; there’s not exactly a shortage of these guys.” She smiled back at him, taking a piece of Archon Wing, “Fair enough.”

Over the last two months, Xiao Yanzi had been a frequent visitor to Tianxia’s house. They often spent hours together training or talking; sometimes just walking together in silence through the forests of Ancient Elven Woods or the Forest of Slumber. While he had questioned the wisdom of continuing to talk to her so frequently, he had finally admitted to himself his reason for doing so –he liked her…a lot. A few days prior, Xiao Yanzi had left him momentarily stunned, speechless, in fact, when she openly admitted that she liked him –as more than just a friend- and asked if he would mind taking her on a date. Initially Tianxia screamed in his mind that he should refuse, that he should not get involved in another relationship that was bound for disaster; but as he looked into her eyes, uncertain, somewhat afraid that he might not answer favorably, he realized that he already had gotten involved –and that deep down, he had been wanting to ask her the same. After a moment of silence between them, Tianxia smiled and agreed to her request; and spent the next three days thinking up and gathering ingredients for the dinner-date.

Yanzi set her fork down on the still-full plate, “Oof…I’m done.” “Already?” Tianxia grinned as he looked up. “I can’t believe I ate so much,” she sad leaning forward slightly. “That plate is more than half-full,” Tianxia replied. “It’s my third plate!” Yanzi answered. Tianxia laughed slightly, taking a drink of tea, “I wouldn’t call those first two ‘plates’ on their own…they only had one piece of meat each.” Yanzi’s eyes narrowed in a playfully challenging expression, “Tianxia…the ‘one piece of meat’…was an Archon drumstick.” “Yeah, and you only had two,” he grinned. “You only had one,” she said making a face. Tianxia thought for a moment, “True. Then again, I had four plates of food afterward.” Yanzi remained silent, Tianxia chuckled and took another drink, then looked over at the girl, “So no dessert, then?” The girl made a sick face, “Ugh. No. No dessert. No more food…ever.” Tianxia laughed loudly, the purple-haired elf joining in his laughter. As the laughter ended, Tianxia stood up, sighed and began cleaning up the table; Yanzi getting up to help him. As they finished putting the dishes away, Yanzi looked out the window, giving a heavy sigh at seeing the sky turning dark. “It’s getting late,” she said sadly. Tianxia turned toward her, head down slightly, “Yeah. I guess you should be going home.” Yanzi nodded, staying silent as they walked to the door of the small house together. They stopped at the door, Yanzi turned toward him, drawing close. Tianxia gave a small smile, “Thanks for coming over tonight.” She laughed and smiled back at him, “Thanks for making dinner.” Tianxia was uncertain of what exactly he should do; but before he had time to worry about it, Yanzi leaned forward and reached up, pressing her lips against his.

Orchids_Mantis

10-08-2009, 05:38 AM

Chapter 13: An Assassin's Plot, The Return of Rei

The large beast thundered after her, shouting to let her know that it had not yet given up its pursuit. Yanzi raised her bow as she drew an arrow back, firing another poisoned bolt into the Nox’ chest –again the Nox staggered at the impact but refused to go down. Yanzi turned her attention forward, eyes widening as she saw a King Mushroom that had wandered close to the path starting toward her. She swore under her breath, grabbing another poisoned arrow and firing it into the Mushroom’s chest; then grabbing an arrow tipped with a different toxin and firing it back at the Nox still chasing her. Feet sliding across the soft dirt of the path, Yanzi spun and drew another arrow, concentrating a mass of energy into the projectile to guide it to its target. She released the arrow, her bow snapping back as the string no longer held its deformed shape; the sharp-tipped weapon flying true and striking the Nox in the head, dropping the beast for good. Not halting to savor the victory she turned quickly, stepping back and drawing another arrow, again concentrating energy into it. The King Mushroom leapt forward, pulling its fist back as it prepared to launch a powerful jab at the archer;, as Yanzi let her last arrow fly. The projectile, charged with energy from the elf, slammed into the head of the reddish-brown plant-beast, sending it backwards two feet where it landed in a motionless lump. Grinning, Yanzi lowered her bow and moved toward the body of the Nox, taking the potions that it had stashed in its belt.

“Hey there,” came a voice from behind her; she turned to see a person she did not recognize. The unnamed mage shuffled a bit, “Sorry, but do you know where I can find Xiao Yanzi? I have a message for her. I asked around and heard she was training around here.” “My name is Yanzi,” she answered, “What’s the message?” “Some fighter told me to ask you to meet him; he said not to go to the house, but that he had something special prepared for you at the mountain overlooking the Forest of Slumber.” Yanzi smiled, Tianxia was trying to be romantic again, playing the mysteriously vague invite bit. She thanked the mage, who went on his way, then set off with a happy skip toward the Forest of Slumber. As she made her way toward the portal to Ancient Elven Woods –the only way to get to the Forest of Slumber- she couldn’t help laughing as she thought of Tianxia’s message. “Hm, Tianxia,” she thought to herself with a chuckle, “What are you planning, dear?”

There was a knock on his door, Tianxia looked up from the table he was sitting at, “Who’s there?” No one answered. The knock came again and again he called out; only to have his query again ignored. There was another knock, followed by a loud thud; and Tianxia’s patience for the person at the door ran out; stretching lazily, Tianxia got up from his chair and went to answer. He reached out, pushing the door open, seeing no one. He stepped out, looking into the woods nearby, wondering if someone was playing a prank on him –but saw no movement in the nearby woods –though there was the smell of wax and burnt paper, as though someone had used a teleportation scroll. He turned back to go inside, pausing at the sight of a dagger buried into his door, a note pinned to the wood by the blade. He pulled the note down and read its contents, growing very curious as he read through the unsigned parchment.

“Tianxia, your presence is requested by Yanzi in the Forest of Slumber. When you return please make your way there with all available haste.”

Tianxia folded the paper and placed it in his pocket, then went into his house and grabbed his axe before setting out for the Forest of Slumber. “Strange,” Tianxia thought as he walked, “Why use a courier and not come herself?” He shook his head, “Ah well. I can ask her when I get there.”

It took some time –the distance from the back of the fortified mountain-town of Uruga to the edge of Ancient Elven Woods where the portal to the Forest of Mist lay was quite long- but she finally reached the blue archway. With a giddy feeling she stepped into the violet energy flowing inside the arch, and stepped out into the area known as the Forest of Slumber. As she first entered the area, she did not see Tianxia; she smiled as she looked around, wondering where he was hiding and what his surprise was. Her smile faded, eyes widening as she felt the cold steel of a sword touch the back of her neck. “I’m glad you could make it,” came a voice from behind, “I was starting to wonder if you would come at all.” Yanzi turned around slowly, seeing a red-haired fighter with an evil smile standing before her. “Who are you?” she asked in a shaky voice. “You may call me Da’Vios Theanis,” the man replied, “I’m an old colleague of Tianxia’s.” Her eyes narrowed, “Well then why come after me?” The man grinned, “We lost contact a while ago and I wanted to get back in touch with him. I had a feeling he’d ignore any request to meet I sent him as is; but I have a hunch that now he’ll be willing to come over.” She scowled, “What do you want with Tianxia?” The man’s grin grew sinister, “We have some business that was left unfinished slightly more than three years ago. I’m here to see that this business of ours is concluded.” Yanzi leapt backwards, drawing her bow up and reaching for an arrow; but before her hand could grab one of the projectiles the fighter dashed behind her, spinning and landing a heavy blow to the back of her skull with the hilt of his sword. The unconscious Yanzi fell to the ground with a thud, arrows spilling across the ground, bow falling from her hand. The man looked down at the girl with a smile, “I think this invitation is one that Tianxia will be quite unable to refuse.” He reached down and picked up the girl, as he dropped a piece of paper fastened to a rock, leaving the arrows and bow on the ground by the portal. “Hehehe,” he chuckled darkly to himself as he walked toward the portal, “Nothing like a little live bait to lure out vermin that need to be killed.”

Tianxia’s eyes widened as he stepped into the Forest of Slumber, immediately spying Yanzi’s bow and the arrows that had fallen from her quiver. He raced over to the bow, reaching down and grabbing it and a few of the arrows; looking them over for marks of a fight. “Yanzi?” he called as he looked around. No one answered, he put a hand to the side of his mouth, “YANZI!” The only reply was an echo of his call as his cry reverberated across the forest. Eyes wide he began looking around frantically for any sign of the archer; spying a rock on the ground near the portal. He walked up to the rock seeing a piece of paper with writing tied to it, and picked it up -his breath catching in his throat as he read the note.

“Tianxia,
You have been cordially invited to a reunion with an old friend tonight. As added incentive for your attendance I have also invited Xiao Yanzi to come along as well. The event is to be held at the edge of the large waterfall in the Forest of Slumber at 6PM sharp. Please be punctual, as for every five minutes you are late I will use a dagger similar to the one you found in your door to give a painful but non-lethal cut to your girlfriend’s pretty face; and for every half hour you are late I will use the same dagger to cut off one of her limbs –which will be much more painful, as using a dagger like that I will have to saw for a while to get through the bone (do not try and sneak in early, though, as the result of this will simply be my killing the archer). Casual attire is the call of the evening, you don’t need to bring any food or drink, though your armor and weapon are recommended, should you wish to try and save your beloved archer.

Regards,

Da’Vios Theanis”

Orchids_Mantis

10-10-2009, 02:01 AM

Chapter 13: An Assassin's Plot, The Return of Rei

Without a sound he pushed the branch aside as he crept through the brush; the sound of running water let him know he was close. Staying low he looked around, spying a large bush; which he quickly stole into. Raising his hand slowly, he pulled down some of the leaves and peered through the cover; seeing a clearing –and in the center, bound, gagged and tied to a large post, was an elf with purple hair. Despite his maddening urge to run forward and free Xiao Yanzi, Tianxia took a few moments to look around the clearing and see if this Da’Vios person –whoever he was- was around. Not seeing anyone, he stood from his hiding spot. “Yanzi,” he called softly. The archer’s eyes widened at the call; she turned her head to see Tianxia, then began straining against her bonds and making muffled groans at seeing his approach. “It’s alright,” he said as he walked toward her, “I’ll have you free soon; don’t worry.” “Oh there’s plenty of reason to worry,” came an arrogant reply from behind her, “Most guests of Da’Vios Theanis do not live to tell the tale.” Tianxia’s eyes narrowed, “That voice. I know that voice,” he thought. “I spent so long trying to think of when I met an adventurer by the name Da’Vios Theanis, and what I would have done to make him angry enough to kidnap my girlfriend,” Tianxia said with a sneer. He shook his head, “It was the name that threw me off…though if you told me your other name you know that I would have been more prepared,” he turned to look at the man standing behind him as he finished speaking, “Isn’t that so, Rei?”

The red-haired man bowed, grinning at Tianxia’s reply, “Aww, you remember me.” “Why are you doing this, Rei?” Tianxia asked; to which Rei laughed, “After all we’ve been through together you have to ask me that? I should think the reason would be quite obvious: I want you dead, Tianxia.” The man shrugged as he drew a large blade, “The monsters haven’t been able to do it, so I’m here to see it done myself.” Tianxia drew his axe and the pair began to circle. Rei grinned, Tianxia’s mind suddenly jolted, pictures filling his head. They were the scene of a fight -pictures of a dark hillside covered in water from a storm overhead, visions of Rei, dagger in hand, striking at Tianxia. He saw Rei strike and knock away Tianxia’s sword. Then he saw Rei fall to the ground wounded, pulling out a teleportation scroll and disappearing moments before Tianxia buried the blade taken from Rei into the ground where Rei had been laying. Tianxia looked up at Rei, “I’ve fought you before…and won,” he said slowly. Rei frowned, “You managed to surprise me; I will not underestimate you this time.” “I am a great deal stronger now, Rei,” Tianxia said as he straightened, “I am not the weakling you fought last time.” “So you’re a strong insect, who cares?” Rei grinned, “I’m stronger as well –they’ll let anyone become an adventurer as long as the name they use to register isn’t on the list of people to detain or turn away.” He grinned at Tianxia, “Besides, I have something going for me in this fight that I did not have last time.” Tianxia lowered his axe slightly, “And what would that be?” Rei’s grin grew sinister, “This.” He turned and bolted toward Yanzi –whom Tianxia had moved away from while they circled- Tianxia raced forward but Rei was far closer; before Tianxia could stop it, Rei cut the ropes binding her to the post and kicked, sending her into the rushing water of the river. She managed to wiggle and kick her way to the water’s surface, straining to get to the bank of the river. “Wow, she’s good at swimming,” Rei chuckled, “Most people sink when you tie their hands and feet.” With a loud shout, Tianxia raised his axe and sliced at Rei, who raised his sword and blocked the strike, locking his sword to Tianxia’s axe.

Eyes blazing, Tianxia pushed in toward Rei, who snickered at the fighter’s anger, “You can try to kill me here, Tianxia,” he jeered as he looked to the side, “But I have a question to ask before you do: I know your girlfriend can swim…but can she fly?” Tianxia followed Rei’s gaze, seeing that despite her best efforts to reach the shore, Yanzi was being pulled toward the edge of the waterfall. “Yanzi!” he yelled as he broke the lock and spun away, “Hang on!” “Hang on?” Rei laughed from behind as Tianxia ran toward the water, “I think if there was something for her to hang onto she would have done so already.” Not paying attention to Rei’s jeers, Tianxia dove into the water, struggling to its surface and began moving toward the bound archer. He coughed and choked as the water made its way into his mouth and nose –he was not the most adept swimmer and really had no clue how he was going to save Yanzi, since he would sink if he tried to carry her and swim at the same time. Seconds passed like minutes, with each stroke Tianxia reached out as far as he could, praying that this would be the time he was able to reach her, to grab her and stop her from going over the edge. At last Tianxia reached the archer, his fingers touching the ropes binding her arms and legs –but was unable to grab her. He took another stroke, throwing his hand forward –as another hand from above shot down and grabbed her by her armor, pulling her out of his reach. Tianxia looked up in shock, seeing Rei standing on a large rock in the river’s center. “That was good, Tianxia –you were much faster than I thought you’d be,” Rei said with an evil smile, “But I can’t let you win that easily.” Tianxia shouted in protest as Rei hauled the archer up and threw her farther out, Yanzi disappearing over the edge of the falls. Mind shouting at him to kill, Tianxia grabbed onto the rock and started to pull himself up as Rei chuckled, looking over the side, “Aw, she didn’t die; she’s still trying to swim –even after all that. Now that’s unfortunate.” Tianxia growled as he started to unfasten his axe. “Primarily because now the Greedy Lizzardmen will kill her,” Rei finished as he looked at the fighter. Tianxia’s eyes widened again and he looked over the edge of the waterfall, seeing that Yanzi had indeed survived and was still managing to keep her head above the water –and also spotted several large green crocodilian beasts making heir way into the water from the shore. Rei’s gave a sinister smile, tilting his chin up as he looked at Tianxia, “Your move, hero.” Without a word and almost without thought, Tianxia turned and leapt out over the edge of the waterfall, plunging downward into the cold pool of water below.

"All according to plan so far." Rei said as he moved to the edge of the rock and looked down, seeing the splash of the fighter's entry into the water. He chuckled to himself and shook his head, "Predictable. These hero types are always so predictable." Rei turned around, leaping from the rock to the shore, "Well, the opening sequence is done." He unsheathed his blade and started walking down the path that led to the base of the falls, "Now on to the main event."

Orchids_Mantis

10-11-2009, 06:11 AM

Chapter 13: An Assassin's Plot, The Return of Rei

Working with great speed –for such a poor swimmer, Tianxia managed to push Yanzi into the shallows of the pool beneath the falls and carry her to the shore. Once there, he removed the gag covering her mouth. “Yanzi,” he asked as he panted, “Are you all right?” “I could be better,” she said with a smile, “But things seem to be improving.” He reached into his bag, pulling out the bow and arrows he'd taken from the Forest of SLumber, "I think you dropped these." She chuckled lightly, "Thanks for returning them -though I don't think I can use them just yet." Sh eheld her hands up, showing the ropes around her wrists, "Would you mind?" Tianxia grinned back at her as he started to work on cutting the ropes still binding her hands and feet with a small knife –shouting in pain as the Greedy Lizzardman he had forgotten about slammed its tail into his side and sent him rolling away. He looked up as he heard Yanzi start shouting, heart stopping momentarily as he saw three large Greedy Lizzardmen surrounding the immobilized archer; another two emerging from the water’s edge. With an indecipherable shout Tianxia charged forward, unfastening and drawing his axe. He shot into the midst of the reptilian creatures, swinging his axe wildly at the beasts –which backed away slightly to avoid the clumsy –though potent- strikes. The remaining two Greedy Lizzardmen arrived, a large grin spreading across Tianxia’s face as the beasts began to encircle him, “Wrong move.” He rotated quickly, using the fighter’s Whirlwind attack, sinking his axe into each of the beasts several times; slaying them in a single blur of swirling blades. He ended his attack, spreading his feet and swinging his axe out to halt the spin; smirking as the large green beasts fell to the ground. He looked out at the water, making sure no other Lizzardmen were approaching, nearby footfalls drawing his attention. He looked in the direction he heard the steps coming from, spying Rei standing a ways off. “That the best you have, Rei?” Tianxia taunted, “A waterfall and a few Lizzardmen?” Rei spread his hands, “It’s true, the waterfall was cliché, and the Lizzardmen were weak. I just wanted to have some fun…something to remember today for besides slaughtering a weakling, you know?” Tianxia’s face hardened, “So kidnapping a girl, tying her up and throwing her over a cliff…” “Did make it a bit better,” Rei finished with a grin.

Tianxia grabbed his axe halfway up its shaft, pointing it at the red-haired fighter, “You might be surprised at what exactly this day has in store for you, Rei.” The killer laughed as he reached behind his back and pulled out his own sword, “Lightning could hit you and save me the trouble; I admit I’d be surprised at that.” Tianxia began walking forward, Rei standing still, sword held in only one hand as he watched Tianxia. “You know, I have to admit, your girlfriend is very pretty,” he taunted, “too bad she’s so freaking loud. You should have heard her as I carried her here: screaming, yelling, shouting, ranting…I tell you I nearly went deaf!” Tianxia’s eyes turned blazed as Rei talked, “And the begging, oh geez, I tell you I’ve killed CHILDREN that didn’t whine and cry as much as she did.” He made an over-exaggerated sad face, his free hand wiping imaginary tears, “’Oh please, please don’t kill me! I’ll do whatever you want, I swear! Just tell me what you want and I’ll do it just please don’t hurt me!’”, he dropped the sad facial expression as he continued, “Seriously, listening to her...it was freaking PATHETIC!” Tianxia grit his teeth, halting his advance a few meters from Rei, the red-haired man looked up with a grin, “I guess it’s fitting, though; a loser guy ended up with a loser girl, after all.” Rei smirked at Tianxia, who said nothing, standing still and quietly regarding him with a stone face. “Well?” Rei asked, “What now? We just stand and stare at each other until one of us passes out from dehydration?” “Shut up,” Tianxia answered with a dark growl. “Aww, no more talking?” Rei pouted sarcastically, “That’s too bad, I liked the talking.” “Shut up,” Tianxia repeated as he swung his axe behind his back, “and fight.” Off to the side, Yanzi sat watching the two fighters as they prepared for their duel.

As Rei began to lie about her actions (she had been unconscious from the time she tried to fight him at the gate until some time after Rei had tied her up and bound her to the post above the waterfall) Yanzi sneered, looking down and to the side. As she looked down, the glint of metal caught her eye. “The knife,” she thought as she looked at the blade on the ground near her, “The knife Tianxia dropped when the Lizzardmen attacked him.” She looked back up at the two fighters, neither of them was looking at her; she slowly slid her hands –tied together- to the side where the knife lay, “If I can just reach it without Rei noticing…” Her hands slowly moved over the ground toward the hilt of the small weapon; her fingers touching its warm wooden handle. She quickly closed her hand around it, then flipped the knife under so her arm hid its metal blade from sight –should Rei cast a chance glance over at her. She frowned upon seeing that the knife’s blade was broken –apparently Tianxia had stepped on it while using whirlwind- and less than a quarter of the metal’s length remained attached to the hilt. “This may take a while,” she thought as she pulled her hands back in. She pulled her feet up, sliding her hands under them and behind her legs to hide her actions from casual glance as she began sawing at the rope, “Still; it’s better than nothing.”

Ahead of her the two fighters stood, weapons drawn and pointed away from each other as they glared into each other’s eyes. Neither of them said anything, they simply stood watching their opponent; each waiting for the other to move. Too sudden for Yanzi to discern, one of them bolted to the side, the other immediately moving with them. Tianxia pushed off of his left foot hard, rushing forward at Rei, who mirrored his move. Rei swung his weapon; Tianxia did likewise, intending to hit Rei’s sword hard enough to knock it out of his hands and leave him unarmed. The giant steel weapons clashed together with a loud clang that echoed across half the forest, the two blades locking together as the fighters each began trying to force the other back. “You’re not porting away on this one, Rei,” Tianxia said as he forced the other fighter back, “And you’re not walking out of here, either.” Rei smirked at the axe fighter, “Oh? Pity; I guess I’ll have to use my mount when I leave, then.” Tianxia growled, pushing Rei back another step, “You’re not leaving here at all, you diseased Ogre drool.” Rei gave a sharp laugh, “And who’s going to stop me, Tianxia? You? I think not.” Tianxia stepped forward again, increasing the force behind his push as Rei took another step back, “Ooooh, I see,” Rei nodded, “You think that since you’re pushing me back that means you win.” The force against Tianxia’s blade suddenly tripling, halting his advance as a grin spread across Rei’s face, “I just wanted to have a bit of fun; I wasn’t actually putting much effort into this little pushing match of ours.” Rei’s sword shot forward with unbelievable power, knocking Tianxia’s axe away; Rei crouched and spun as Tianxia stumbled back, sending his sword out in a tight circle and slicing into his upper thigh. Tianxia shouted, falling to one knee as the sword cut through his leg; he reached into his bag, grabbing one of the few potions he still possessed and used it on his new wound. “Poor, poor Tianxia,” Rei said as he straightened, sword resting across his shoulders, “I’m afraid this is where it ends for you.” Rei’s face twisted into a wrathful sneer as he lifted his blade into the air, “Now die you worthless dog!”

Orchids_Mantis

10-19-2009, 06:39 AM

Chapter 13: An Assassin's Plot, The Return of Rei

Rei’s blade descended; Tianxia rolled to the side and spun to his feet as the sword sank into the moist ground. Rei pulled his sword free, an evil glint in his eye. Tianxia caught the look, “What is he planning on…” He sucked in a breath as Rei spun, a familiar grip remaining on his sword –which was not moving with him, “Devastate…he’s trying to stun me!” His mind raced as Rei finished the first half of his spin, “What can I do? I can try to block , but I don’t think I can close the distance enough to stop it. I can’t strike either, from this range it would take too long to launch a strong enough attack to stop him.” He shouted in his mind, tenths of seconds passing as though they were hours, “Too far away to attack or block, but too close in to get out of Devastate’s effective range.” His eyes lit up as an idea came to him; in a mirror move, Tianxia spun rapidly and hefted his axe. Rei grinned as his blade smashed into the ground, sending a shockwave through ground and air into Tianxia’s body, leaving him stunned. His smile faded as he saw that Tianxia had built up too much momentum for the stun to stop his move. “No,” the word came to his mind in a silent whisper as Tianxia’s axe smashed into the ground, shockwave hurling into Rei and leaving him stunned in turn. Tianxia grinned in his mind, imagining the curses that Rei must be thinking and only wishing that the stun from Devastate left him able to talk. He thought to himself as he attempted to push against the paralysis, “I’ve been playing the wrong game. I’ve been letting Rei’s comments get to me; forgetting everything I’ve learned and trying to match power for power while allowing him the victory of getting me upset.” His eyes –the only thing that he could still move- flicked over to Rei as he continued thinking, “I need to calm down; play a smarter game –get him to be the one angry and making mistakes.” Feeling slowly began to return to his limbs as he glared at the other fighter, “Alright then, Rei; round two is about to start.”

The stun effect wore off and the two fighters immediately hefted their respective weapons, charging each other once again. Rei swung his sword down, the tip slicing neatly into the ground as he channeled energy into it. The energy ran down the length of the blade into the tip, where it was sent slicing forward through the ground. Tianxia saw the energy blade coming toward him, and mirrored Rei’s move, sending his own blade of energy through the ground. The two waves collided, creating a bright flare as the energies smashed into each other, each canceling the other out. Rei snarled and jumped backwards, pulling his blade free from the ground as Tianxia hefted his axe with a wry grin. Rei’s large sword glowed and he slashed down and across, a trail of light appearing behind the weapon. He raised his blade, bringing it up at a perpendicular angle, the light from the blade creating a cross of energy in front of him; with a shout he brought his blade down through the cross’ center, sending it speeding through the air –where it impacted the energy from Tianxia’s mirrored attack. Once more the fighters’ energies collided, a bright ball of light bursting outward from the point of impact and vanishing in a silent flash. Rei surged forward, blade flashing to the side as he sliced at Tianxia; who side-stepped to dodge the strike. Rei ground to a halt and spun on his heel, slamming his sword into the ground in another Devastate attack –swearing in his mind as the energy from Tianxia’s Devastate attack slammed into him. The two fighter stood motionless again as they each waited out the effect of the other’s Devastate attacks; then straightened to face each other as the paralysis wore off. “Face it, Rei,” Tianxia grinned as he swung his axe behind him, “Using those attacks is pointless. Any one of them you can use I am able to use as well –most of the more potent ones will simply cancel each other out.” Rei stepped forward, “This isn’t something you should be happy about, Tianxia. As I recall I still have the upper hand when it comes to strength; so skill tricks not being usable in this fight puts you at a distinct disadvantage.” Tianxia nodded at the other fighter, “We’ll see just how much that matters now, won’t we?”

Reai struck, Tianxia spinning away and knocking the back of Rei's blade to the side, bringing his blade around to strike at Rei's back. Rei spun with hos sword, drawing it in close and striking at Tianxia's axe; the two metal weapons clanging and vibrating as they impacted. Tianxia narrowed his eyes, "That style..." "Yup," Rei grinned, "I learned the same style as you. Consider it a compliment...I went through a lot of trouble to kill you." Tianxia broke the lock and jumped back to get out of range, smirking in reply, "You may have studied it, but there's no way a moron like you could ever hope to master it." Rei shouted, charging forward and swinging his blade at the blue-haired fighter. Tianxia stepped back, his opponent’s blade swinging upward half a foot away from his body. Rei quickly turned, stepping in and spinning as he swept out with his sword in an attack that was halted as Tianxia’s axe slammed into its broad form. Rei sneered and pushed forward, forcing Tianxia to give way and step back. “You don’t stand a chance against me, Tianxia,” Rei growled, “You may be stronger than you were, but you are still weak compared to me. Compared to me you are nothing more than a roach, a worthless vermin. You always have been, you always will be.” Tianxia snickered, “Yeah? Well you may be stronger…but you’re still an idiot.” Rei’s face hardened and he shoved forward –meeting no resistance. Tianxia fell back with the push, falling to the ground and kicking up as Rei stumbled forward over him, sending Rei onto his back a few yards away. Rei snarled as he got to his feet, Tianxia grinning back at him, “Stronger…but still the same moron I’ve known since childhood.” With an indecipherable howl, Rei charged at Tianxia, launching a flurry of powerful attacks –which Tianxia guided around and away from himself. Shouting in blind fury Rei made a wide and slow swing at Tianxia’s chest. Tianxia, gripping his axe’s shaft close to the blade swept the bottom end up and under Rei’s sword and spun around, guiding the slow strike well above his head. Rei growled, preparing to bring his sword down on Tianxia’s head; but his attack halted before it ever managed to start as Tianxia, using the spin from his last move, swept the blade of his axe neatly into and across Rei’s upper thigh, and again across his lower stomach.

Howling in pain and rage, Rei fell to the ground, his blade falling from his hands. Rei growled as he grabbed a soul stone to heal the wounds; he reached forward to grab his sword, halting as the large blade of Tianxia’s axe touched against his skin beneath his chin. The metal weapon pushed up slightly, Rei doing as the blade suggested and getting to his feet with a look of disappointment and disdain. Rei turned slowly to face the axe’s wielder; who looked back at him with a dispassionate glare. “It’s over Rei,” Tianxia said evenly, “You lost.” Rei grinned, “I still breathe, boy; I’m not defeated yet.” Rei started to reach into his bag again, the metal blade pivoting, pressing now against his neck, “You’re not porting out of here, Rei. Not this time.” Rei grinned, “Come off it, tianxia; you an I both know you won’t kill me. You couldn’t last time, you won’t this time.” Tianxia frowned, “You left before I could kill you before.” Rei chuckled, “Is that what you really think?” He shook his head, “You had an opportunity to finish me, but you spent it talking –you gave me the time I needed to escape.” Tianxia halted as Rei continued, “You hero types…you’re too predictable –even when you win you lose.” Rei’s hand moved deeper into his bag as he pulled out a green scroll. “You’re not leaving here alive, Rei,” Tianxia said as Rei pulled the scroll from his inventory bag. Rei shook his head again, “I already told you, Tianxia –you can’t kill me. You and I both know it.” Tianxia lowered his axe and nodded, “You’re right…I can’t kill you.” His head turned slightly, looking behind and to the side of Rei, “But that doesn’t necessarily mean she can’t.” Rei’s eyebrows furrowed and he turned to see a purple-haired elf –one who was clearly upset- with a bow standing about nine meters away, the string pulled back to the point where the tip of the arrow sitting on it touched the wood of the bow. His eyes widened as the tip of the arrow –pointing at his upper chest- glowed as the archer concentrated a large burst of energy into its tip. Before Rei could break the seal on the green scroll he held in his hands, Yanzi released her grip on the projectile, and the arrow flew forward.

There was no pain, but there was an impact in the upper left side of his chest, followed by a strange numb feeling that spread quickly through his body. He stumbled slightly as he turned to look back at Tianxia, a look of confusion on his face as he stared at the blue-haired man. Rei blinked a few times, weaving from side to side as he looked at Tianxia, "But...how?" Tianxia straightened, "I told you...you may have studied Offensive Blade style, but there is a simple truth behind it that few ever realize, a truth found even in its most basic principple. One can only be as great as one; but any other number has the ability to surpass it. Strength alone can defeat strength, and if strong enough can defeat all the factors of the Offensive Blades style; but strength is limited to the ability of strength, the other factors always have the chance to become stronger than just strength. Similarly, a single person is limited to the ability of a single person -but two people will always have the chance of being able to accomplish what one alone cannot." Wobbling, Rei looked behind him at the archer, still holding her bow and glaring at him; then back at Tianxia. The briggand fell to the ground, scroll falling free of his grip as the world was consumed by a deep unforgiving darkness.

As Yanzi lowered her bow, Tianxia quickly moved over to her, wrapping his arms around her. She hugged him back, putting her head against his chest. "I'm sorry, Yanzi," he managed to spit out after a moment. She looked up at him, "Sorry? Sorry for what?" "Getting you caught up in all this," he replied. "It's not like you planned it; nothing for you to apologize for. Besides, now that he's dead we don't have to worry about him coming after us again later." Tianxia nodded, looking over at Rei's body. Yanzi watched him for a few seconds, "What is it, dear?" "It's interesting," Tianxia said softly. Yanzi tilted her head to the side, "What is?" Tianxia nodded toward the dead man, "The first time I fought him three years ago he stabbed me through the left chest, trying to pierce my heart." "Your heart is on your right side, dear," she interrupted. "I know," he nodded, "But he didn't." Yanzi nodded slowly, "So anyways...what's so interesting?" Tianxia shrugged slightly, "Along with the events from our first encounter, I was thinking about how Rei was a thief, a bully and a cold-blooded killer. If you were to describe him; you'd say love was something that he never had for anyone." "Okay," Yanzi continued nodding. Tianxia looked back at her with a small grin, "Given those two things, I just think there's...almost an irony, really...that he died from an arrow piercing his heart."

Tianxia and Yanzi stayed looking at the body for a few minutes more, then Tianxia turned back to her, "You know...when I went to the Forest of Slumber to find you and saw your weapon lying on the ground...I panicked." "I'm sorry," Yanzi said looking down. Tianxia reached down, placing a finger under her chin, and gently tilted her head up, "Then I saw Rei's note. The entire time I was on my way here I was worrying about you; fearing that I would lose you." Yanzi shook her head, "Tianxia, you won't..." "I didn't want to lose you, Yanzi," Tianxia interrupted, "I don't ever want to lose you. I want you to always be with me." She looked into his eyes, he was trying to say something, "Tianxia...what do you mean?" Tianxia took a long breath, "Yanzi...will you marry me?"

Orchids_Mantis

10-19-2009, 06:49 AM

Epilogue

A few years passed, Tianxia and his wife, Xiao Yanzi had long since moved from their cabin in the Ancient Elven Woods and into a slightly larger cabin in an area populated by much weaker monsters; and for good reason –neither of them thought the child they had been expecting should be raised in an area overrun with such beasts. Yanzi and Tianxia had agreed early on in their marriage that they did not wish to live in the villages, but Tianxia refused to move into the towns of Uruga, Elderine or Rumen –as he still detested the corruption he saw spreading in the Adventurers. As Tianxia was human, the elfin clan Yanzi was from would not allow the couple to stay with them (while elves and humans were on friendly terms –especially in combat, they still preferred to keep to themselves as a society, only permitting those of elfin descent to reside with them).

-Somewhere in the forests outside of Rumen and Elderine-

Tianxia sat down on the bed, placing the cup of warm tea on the small nightstand he had crafted; then reached over and put his arms around Yanzi, who wassitting next to him. He kissed her lightly on her cheek, “How are you doing?” She smiled and shook her head, “I’m fine, just like I was five minutes ago…and just like I was five minutes before that.” She turned her head toward him, kissing him lightly, “Really, you don’t need to worry about me.” Tianxia smiled, then looked down at the small baby sleeping in her arms, “So…what do we name him?” “I was thinking maybe we could wait on the name,” she answered. Tianxia looked at her, very confused, “Wait to give him a name?” Yanzi nodded, “There’s nothing wrong with it -I got my name at six years old.” “You want to wait six years before giving him a name?” Tianxia asked. Yanzi’s face grew slightly stern ,”Sshh! You’ll wake him.” Tianxia looked away, “Oh…sorry.” The purple-haired elf smiled a bit, “It’s alright; just don’t get so loud, dear. Anyways, I didn’t mean we should wait six years to name him; I meant I wanted to wait and see what he’s like, then name him to reflect how he acts –you know, the same way I got my name.” “Ah,” Tianxia nodded, “Mm…okay…I can live with doing that.”

The small child grew quickly. Wide-eyed and observant, the child was found to be very quiet around the house or outdoors –except when asking questions. Two years later, the family of three grew to a family of four, with the addition of another son. This child was a bit frail at birth, however, and as such Tianxia and Yanzi did their best to see to it that he remained indoors as much as was possible. The following year Yanzi again gave birth, this time to a set of twins. Nearly identical in appearance, the only way to tell them apart so early on was by the blue tuft of hair the elder twin had; and the green tuft of hair growing from the top of the younger twin’s head.

__________________________________________________ __________________
__________________________________________________ __________________
__________________________________________________ __________________

“Well?” Tian Long asked from his seat. Liu looked up at him, “Well what?” “Well keep going,” Ao Shun finished for him from his chair. “I can’t,” the green-haired mage replied, “The journal ends there.” Ao looked over in confusion, “Wait, what? Why’s the journal end there?” “Because that’s when mom got sick,” An Ning said softly. The room went quiet as he looked around, “After Tian and Ao were born, mom got sick. Dad took her to Roumen to get treated, but there was nothing they could do.” He hung his head, “I remember dad talking about it…the doctors in town gave her only a few weeks to live –she managed to live for almost another year.” The room was still quiet, “After mom died, dad was never quite the same. He looked fine to us, but that picture,” he said pointing to the painting, “was not how dad looked before he died. After mom died he started getting weak –I don’t mean physically, he could still haul a tree trunk through the forest without breaking a sweat, I mean he was frequently getting ill. His hair grew thin, his skin paled a bit. He’d get sick for a week or two, then he’d be fine for a few months.” Liu nodded, “Yeah…I kind of remember that.” An nodded in return, “It went on for a few years before dad finally went to a doctor and found out that he had the same virus that had killed mom. By then the medicine had gotten better, they had found a vaccine, but not a cure; so dad got us all vaccinated to prevent us from catching the virus as well….he died about four years after mom did.” The room remained in a solemn silence for a few minutes before He Liu closed the small journal and set it in the bookshelf. “Well,” said Mei Jian from beside Liu, “It was still a great story.” “Yeah,” Ao nodded, sitting next to him Nyaka also nodded her agreement. “And it’s nice to know a bit more about your parents,” Bai Yang said from An’s side.

Tian Long looked over at the bookshelf’s newest addition, “You know,” he said to Feng, “That was kind of interesting. I may start keeping one of those myself.” Feng Huang stretched a bit, smiling as she quietly answered him, “It was; but why would you keep one? You planning on not being around for our..” “Ah-tutututut,” Tian Long shushed her quietly, cutting her off. Feng Huang gave a playfully knowing smile, Tian narrowing his eyes back at her. She snuggled up next to him, “I’m not waiting six years to name him, though.” Tian looked back at her, “Oh? Thought of one already, have you?” “Mhm,” she answered, “Galen.” “Galen,” he repeated, “What’s that mean?” “No meaning,” she replied, “It’s a scrambling of a word I like.” Tianxia chuckled lightly, “And that would be…?” “Angel,” she smiled. Tianxia nodded as they sat together. “Galen Lijia,” she whispered, “I like that name.” Tian Long turned again, “Lijia?” “Well according to your dad’s journal, your family name is ‘Li’…but I want his name to be a bit more contemporary –you know, family name last. So I decided on ‘Lijia’, ‘house of Li’.” I see,” Tian nodded, “Can I be included in future decisions on this matter?” “Maybe,” she giggled from next to him.

“Decisions on what matter, Tian?” Liu asked from across the room. Tian’s eyes widened a bit, “Ah crap.” “Oooooooo bus-ted,” Feng chuckled in his arms. Tian Long hesitated a moment, then stood up, drawing in a long breath –everyone in the room was watching him. “Well, I didn’t want to announce it yet,” he said shooting an exaggerated glare at Feng, who opened her eyes wide to express innocence, “But I guess there’s no getting out of it.” He looked around the room, “I guess you guys should know that Feng has decided on ‘Galen’ for a name.” The room was quiet a moment before Ao spoke up, “Huh? Feng is changing her name?” Tian looked over at his twin, “No…no she isn’t.” Ao’s face was one of immense confusion, “Huh? But you said she chose the name Galen.” The blue haired fighter nodded, “Yes…yes she has.” “EEEEEEEEEEEE!” Nyaka suddenly squealed loudly. Sitting next to her, Ao shot to his feet, reaching for his sword, “What happened? What is it?” Nyaka ignored him, looking over at Mei Jian as she frantically hopped up and down, shaking her hands, “Do you get it? Do you get it?” Mei Jian’s eyes widened and she shot to her feet as well, “Oh my god! Oh my god I do!” The two girls started squealing loudly, soon joined in by Bai Yang, hopping up nd down ecstatically behind An Ning. Liu and Ao continued to look around the room, trying to figure out what was going on as the three girls jumped around, yelling and looking at Feng Huang and the now-red-faced Tian Long. “Do you get it? Do you get it?” Bai Yang said between squeals to An. “Yes, yes, I get it,” he nodded as he stood, moving toward Tian and Feng, “Well, congratulations.” “Congratulations on WHAT!?” Ao shouted. “What’s going on!?” Liu yelled, “What am I missing!?” The shouts of the mage and fighter were barely audible over the shouts and shrieks of the three other women in the room.

An Ning sat down next to Tian and Feng, shaking his head. “You know,” he said as he looked at Ao and Liu, “It’s amazing that they can be so smart, so observant in battle…yet so immensely clueless about things like this.” Tian and Feng both laughed at An’s comment; Ao and Liu, however, unable to tell what An had said over the loud shouts of the three girls, simply continued asking what was going on. An shook his head, blue hair waving slightly, he then looked over at his brother, “So…Galen, huh?” An chuckled lightly, “Heh, the new generation is already coming…dang this makes me feel old.” “Really?” Bai Yang asked as she walked over –significantly calmer than she had been a few seconds prior, “You’re starting to feel old, An?” An noted the glint in her eye and he playfully narrowed his eyes, pointing a finger at her, “Don’t get any ideas from this…I’m not feeling THAT old.” Tian, Feng and Bai Yang began laughing at An’s comment. An shook his head, chuckling a bit himself at the still-shrieking Nyaka and Bai Yang –and the still confused He Liu and Ao Shun, “Well. It seems there are very interesting times ahead for all of us.”