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Arthur -> Aldren Chronicles~Sleepless Nights (3/25/2012 8:40:17)
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Aldren Chronicles
First Story
Sleepless Nights
First Night
Elestrian Woods
"Nine Nights I slept, till I couldn't sleep anymore,
Nine Nights I wept, till I couldn't weep anymore.
Nine Nights I fought, till I couldn't fight anymore,
And Nine Nights I bled, till I couldn't bleed anymore......."
' That is a beautiful start, Ainan, you should have been a poet, or a bard. The way I see it, travelling with a fighting man is not something you should involve yourself with,' the middle-aged man sitting opposite to me said with a warm smile as I folded the sheets in my hand and hastily stuffed them in my satchel.
I really didn't get him, sometimes, he reminded me of my own father, and other times, of some wayward stranger I just met. Night Aldren was his name and he was the son of a rich squire who used to live in the City of Oult, north of the Elestrian Woods. For some reason, he always seemed upset to me, in fact, this was the first time in our last two days together that I had seen him smile. He had told me his story the night before as we sat around a fire and ate our food. " I am a murderer!", he had said. I had thought it better to keep my mouth shut and let him continue his own way.
He started.
" It was the night of the black moon and shadows crawled along the walls, around the corners and over the roofs. I, as usual slept in my hovel wary of all that was happening around me. My father, an old man of seventy slept on the soft, warm bed that we had carried in from the landlord's room. Unlike me, he was not aware of the dangers outside of that warm, cozy room and so, he slept peacefully. How I wished that I had not been cursed with the Burning Hand-", a power that allowed Night to sense unwanted presence around him,"- I crept out from under the covers and walked outside the hovel in order to engage whatever enemy awaited out there. The absence of moonlight did nothing to help me as I looked around the empty streets, what helped me was my curse, and my intuition. I took one step ahead and a fierce wind blew past me and shattering the door of the hovel, invaded its warm interiors. I turned, but I was too late, the deed was done. I ran in only to find my father's body drenched in blood........his own blood. As I rushed over to him, a shadow crept past me and out the room. However, it had committed a major mistake that it regretted later. It whispered something in my ears as it passed, and had I been a human, my ears would not have caught the sound of his voice, but my curse, my Burning Hand presented it to me as clear as possible. It said, "' Come find me, where the Winds blow low, and Where the Trees grow close."' I had not the slightest idea what it meant back then, for I could only stand there in the darkness of the hovel where my father's corpse lay dead in front of me. I cried not, for my tears had dried away, I had witnessed all manners of atrocities as a child. I had witnessed my mother being swallowed alive by the Fraugian King when we were employed under him as slaves. I had witnessed my younger brother being sliced to pieces by the Black Sword, Zahn Knightbane, and now, the last piece of the puzzle was in place with my father's death. Some would say it wasn't, for I was still alive, still cursed, still breathing. I now had just one mission, to find my murderer and murder him before he did it to me. And so, here I am, on my mission. "
I remember hearing his story with the utmost concentration, and when he was finally done, I had carefully scribbled it down on my yellow sheets even as Night left for his walk.
My name is Ainan V Eller. My father is an old scribe who is responsible for the Great Library situated in the City of Noth, south of the Elestrian Woods. I serve as an apprentice at that very Library and I have set out with a mission, a mission to write the greatest epic of all times so that when I return, if I return, I can show the wizened old Keepers that even one such as me is capable of doing what even great authors will think a thousand times about before venturing forth. And so, I met the hero of my epic, Night Aldren. How I wish I could have been as capable as him and as strong as him. I started out with the intention to stay with him as long as my story was going, but now, I don't feel like leaving a soul such as him alone at the world's mercy. He can't even cook a proper roast of boar, let alone other such tasks. And he most certainly can't fight his hunger with those vicious Burning Blades of his even if he can battle the Mercenaries that prowl around these woods.
"Ainan!", Night said breaking my train of thoughts and causing me to jump up.
'Y..Yes?', I somehow stuttered.
" Hand me my Belt of Void, quick!", he commanded, all the time looking at the darkness around us. Something was amiss.
I scrambled over to the other side of the fire and grabbing his belt of black leather, threw it at him. He caught it one hand and standing up, started to wear it hastily.
" Get your pouches and your satchel, we are leaving.", he said as he wore his long, brown travelling cloak that was fashioned out of velvet.
I wore my many pouches on my belt and slung the satchel over my shoulder as I felt for my Decimation Gauntlet safely tucked away inside my satchel, a gift from my father, for my own protection. Night was not aware of its presence.
I dusted out the fire and hurriedly set off after the already running Night. He put a finger to his lips as I drew level with him, and I nodded in reply.
Moonlight showed the way ahead, not a soul stirred in the forest apart from us. During our whole run, Night kept quiet and focused on the road ahead even as I glanced around for anyone following us or any figure that might be hiding behind the trees, waiting for an ambush.
As we ran, I thought I saw something pass by me, like a shadow, but slightly more intangible. I turned to look at Night, and to my horror, I found him missing, gone. I skidded to a stop and frantically looked around for the man. He was nowhere to be seen, I stood alone in that horrible darkness with nothing and no one to protect me from whatever lurked there.
"Ainan!", someone whispered close to my ear.
I whirled around and found Night standing right behind me with a finger on his lips. He forced me to crouch down even as he did and pointed right ahead of us at a clearing among the trees. I stared hard at that spot but couldn't see anything moving. Night noticed my discomfort and suddenly, placed his right palm over my eyes. Before I could make another move, he moved his hand away and at that instant, my eyes fell on the clearing and I could make out five figures standing behind the trees, as if waiting for someone or something.
"Kid!", Night drew my attention, I looked at him with a confused look in my eyes.
" How are your maneuvers?"
We sprinted past the trees as silently as we could heading for the waiting mercenaries. Midway, Night threw back his cloak and drew forth two blades, his trademark weapons which I had dubbed as The Burning Blades on account of them being able to blaze up in accordance with their wielder's wishes. However, Night preferred to keep the element of surprise in his attacks and only set his blades ablaze when he was in the heat of battle and needed firepower. Coming to a spot behind where the mercenaries stood, we halted and Night turned to me.
" Can you fight? " he asked me.
I held up my hands shakily in a confused gesture, " I can try.."
"That should help! Now, do you have a weapon?" he asked again impatiently looking around in order to keep the mercenaries in his sights.
I didn't want to reveal to him my Gauntlet seeing as even I didn't know how to use it. I preferred to keep it away safely and save myself the embarrassment.
" I don't need one," I lied.
At that, Night drew back and cocked his eyebrow.
" That....that's brave. But you see, these men right here are trained mercenaries paid to hunt me down. Their blades will taste nothing short of my blood tonight, and yours should you choose to interrupt.."
"...which I will, undoubtedly."
Night nodded and stood up to his full height and twirling his blades, whirled around and said, " All the luck from me." He dashed at the men standing near the clearing.
I gritted my teeth trying to bite away the feeling of helplessness. There came the sound of clashing steel and screams signalling the initiation of the conflict. I looked up and to my surprise, found Night whizzing past the men, then coming back in their midst and following up with a series of fluid and fatal slashes and stabs. All that was visible of his weapons was the shining silvery lines left behind in their furious wake. However, not even one of the five mercenaries appeared wounded, they shot right back with all their skill which, to my horror I noted was no less than Night's.
I looked around for a weapon that I could use trying to look away from the one that I really had. I saw nothing but fallen twigs and a few branches. The clashing sounds of steel surrounded me all the while before I finally decided upon a plan. I reached into my satchel and pulled out the Gauntlet wrapped in velvet clothing. Pulling them apart, I revealed the beautifully designed Gauntlet. It was made purely out of gold and silver with a hint of steel at the fingers and knuckles. A beautiful conglomeration of these elements allowed it to serve a dual purpose, that of a weapon of destruction and an object of ornamental value. I decided to use its former quality at this hour. Closing my eyes, I sighed and put the Decimation Gauntlet on. The steel felt cold on the back of my hand and palm. Apart from that, it fit perfectly as if it was made for me. Then, I pulled out a pair of long leather gloves from my satchel and wore one on top of the Gauntlet to hide it while I wore the other just in case Night suspected something. I looked up, the Burning Blades had finally come true to their name and were ablaze with a bright flame that threatened to envelope the enemies of whom I noticed, one was missing.
Feeling somewhat confident, I ran into battle.
Picking one among the four, I flew at him and pulling back my gauntleted arm, let fly with all my strength. The fist connected with the side of his skull and mashed it in with tremendous force. For some reason, I felt an equally devastating recoil and myself flew back a few feet. Why was a gauntlet causing recoil? I guessed it to be the effects of only this gauntlet. I hastily stood up and found the man I had punched, dead. At that same moment, I heard a sliding sound and glanced aside to see Night sliding one of his burning daggers into a man's guts causing him to wail in pain. Effects of the flames. As I watched, Night pulled the blade out and with a whirl, slashed the man's body upwards starting from his groin all the way to the top of his skull. The man stood there for a while before finally toppling backwards, dead.
As I looked on in awe, Night turned towards me and his eyes widened in horror.
" Watch out!" he screamed.
***
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