extreme wizard
Member
|
Chapter 1: Just Another Battle
"Hans! We can hold the front, go for reinforcements!" shouted Yulgar as he crushed the skull of yet another NightZard. The creatures never seemed to stop coming. Yulgar wore his ordinary blacksmith gear, holding his twin hammers at the front of the line. He stood with two dozen Guardians on the hill just North of Battleon, beating back the hordes of Zards charging like mad bulls toward them. The otherwise peaceful hill was now covered with bodies, blood flowing freely from nearly every soul, living or dead, in the fray that raged in the fantastic scenery of Battleon's surrounding hills. Yulgar stood at point, with the two dozen Guardians in a wedge formation behind him, all fighting like demons, and not the good kind. Zards of all kinds ran toward the city of Battleon, thousands of monsters leaping at the weary defenders of the great city. Hurry up Hans. thought Yulgar. We're getting tired out here.
Hans was in fact hurrying, almost too much so. As he ran back toward town, he crashed into Artix as he walked across the road towards the Guardian Tower. Hans fell onto his back while Artix hardly seemed to notice.
"In a hurry, are we?" said Artix with a smile.
Hans stood quickly, panting for breath. "Yes, a fight broke out north of town, and the Guardians there are getting tired. I was sent to get help."
"Then go no further." said Artix. "I know where you can find Pete, our town hero. He's teaching a class two blocks west of here, at the military training center."
"Thank you." said Hans breathlessly. He took off running west.
Meanwhile, Pete was teaching a group of young Guardians about the difficult art of knife-wielding. He was not impressively built, but any man who faced him in combat did not recommend doing the same. Pete was the town hero, decorated for heroics in combat, politics, community service, construction, and every other service that could be done for the town. Yet it was impossible to believe that this man was deadlier than the most dangerous assassins and possessed magical power that rivaled the Blue Mage himself. His face was pockmarked, and he did not have an intimidating figure. His build was slim and he had long, black, hair. His face was cleanly shaven and he wore the black armor of the Assassin's Guild, but any man that knew him did not call him a merciless killer. His brown eyes were full of intelligence, and they seemed to penetrate through a man's very soul. As he spoke, the young Guardians in the room listened with rapt attention.
Pete spoke with a clear voice, "...Now, a very important thing to learn about combat with knives is which knife to choose. The traditional iron and steel knives are durable, but they lose their edge fairly quickly and have difficulty making a clean cut. A ceramic knife is a decent alternative weapon, since it can be sharpened significantly more than it's steel counterparts, and holds it's edge longer. It's only downside is that it can not withstand the impacts of heavy combat and can shatter if swung or thrown into a shield or armor. The ceramic knives are highly useful when-" Someone knocked on the door. "Come in!" shouted Pete.
Hans stumbled, exhausted into the room. "P-Pete," he began. "North of town...there's...there's a fight, and they need you."
"All right, I'll head there immediately. Class dismissed!" he said, walking to his bag behind a sturdy oak desk as the Guardians-in-training moved toward the door. He reached inside the worn leather backpack's only pouch and removed a clean, long sword from it's magically enchanted opening. The blade gently radiated magical energy, and consisted of a golden handle, decorated with a stout crossguard, and a long, double-edged blade. Pete checked his assassin gear, then noticed Hans examining his sword. "This is Raynar's Superior Blade." he said. "I got it from Warlic a while back. It's a good weapon. Now, where did you say the battle is?"
Hans composed himself, "Yulgar and some Guardians are fighting just north of town, there are mostly Zards, but there are thousands of them."
"All right, that's all I need to know." Pete answered. He pulled up his hood and leapt upward to a windowsill facing north. He flipped open the window and jumped out. Hans ran over to see where he landed, but was unable to see him.
"Heroes..." said Hans, shaking his head. "Always prefering the dramatics." He thought briefly about how fun it would be to kill monsters for a job, then remembered seeing a dragon for the first time and dismissed the idea.
Pete ran silently through the streets of Battleon, moving swiftly and lightly past the Guardian Tower and it's neighboring buildings. He heard the fight before he saw it. The sounds of pain, weapons clashing on bone, and the howls of the wounded reached his ears while he moved up the backside of a hill. As he reached the top, he looked into the wide valley thirty feet below him. The Guardians had held their formation as well as they could, but the occassional Zard had made their way through the line and now advanced towards town. Pete alone stood between nearly a dozen Zards and the Guardian Tower behind him. Twelve Zards and one me. he thought. Not bad odds. He drew a ceramic throwing knife from his belt, and threw it into the throat of the nearest Zard. The green creature gurgled and staggered to the ground. Pete removed his AutoCrossbow from his back and loaded it. He took aim at another Zard and fired. He did not miss. He repeated the action with the other ten Zards, exhausting the Crossbow's ammunition supply.
"Pete! What are you waiting for?" shouted Yulgar from the front of the wedge. He had glanced over his shoulder briefly to check on the Guardians and had seen the town's hero standing idly with a strange gun in his hands. Slacker. he thought. Still, we could use more slackers who have the skill he does.
Pete suddenly appeared next to Yulgar. "What was I waiting for?" he said. "I shot down a dozen of those things just before you turned around to insult me. Oh, excellent timing by the way." He smiled smugly.
Yulgar pushed back a Zard with a brutal kick, following up with a quick hammer strike to the skull. "Nah, we were just making sure the fight was safe enough for our hero to come in." He returned the smile.
Pete laughed, "All right, so I guess you won't be needing me to do this next time, will you now?" He put his hands together in front of him, as if he were making a snowball during the Frostvall festival. A faint hissing sound was made as air was compressed together into an invisible sphere between his hands, building up massive pressure that was contained only by magic. When he was satisfied with the pressure build-up, Pete opened his hands toward the oncoming Zards. A massive invisible blast of air exploded forward in front of the town's hero, decimating hundreds of Zards instantaniously. The remaining Zards turned away from this new threat and fled back to their master, desperate to avoid the same fate they had just seen their brethren experience.
Pete clapped his hands together. "Well, I guess that's that." he said.
Yulgar looked at him, slack-jawed. "Well you could've come by and done that earlier!" he exclaimed with a chuckle.
"But how could a little hero like me go into a battle that unsafe without you people cleaning it up first?" Pete answered with a touch of good sarcasm. He smiled.
Yulgar let out a deep laugh. "Nice to have you here, my friend." He shook hands with the hero, then looked at the fleeing Zards. The ZardMaster was barely visible from this distance, but Yulgar would have sworn that he saw him turn and shake his head in wonder at the combined power of the Guardians of Battleon and their hero.
Pete turned and walked away, heading towards his home. That was easy. he thought lightly. As he entered Battleon's streets, he looked up at the sun shining brightly in the sky. A large, black bird flew through the air, screeching loudly as it smelled fresh meat in the battlefield below. The sight of the dirty scavenger tainted the beauty of the mid-day sky, and Pete looked back at the road. He saw one of King Alteon's guards walk toward him with a grim look on his face.
"Pete," the guard said. "We need you to meet with the King."
"Why?" Pete asked.
The guard grew uncomfortable. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news," he began. "But we're going to war."
< Message edited by extreme wizard -- 5/2/2011 22:27:17 >
|
Printable Version
Icon Legend
New Messages
No New Messages
Hot Topic w/ New Messages
Hot Topic w/o New Messages
Locked w/ New Messages
Locked w/o New Messages
Post New Thread
