|
|
"...When suddenly a powerful burst of wind put out the flame. The man looked confused, at what the other had just done, his most powerful spell, blown away with a little air. He turned to look around at the dead bodies by his feet and pulled out a very bloody long sword. After wiping off the blood, he turned to face his opponent.
"Ha, Ha! You brandish a weapon to me. Now, follow the way of your allies before you", the dark bearded human exclaimed as he seemed to be drawing from the very air the men breathed. "Now you shall taste true power." He turned and began waving his hands as if to cast a spell, when he was stricken from behind, Xarin had made another vain attempt to slay the mage, a powerful aura surrounded the mage when Xarin struck. The mage through his head around and laughed. "Now, now. A powerful mage like me can not be destroyed quite so easily! Fall to that which once made you."
The ground began to shake, a crack began to open from his feet and suddenly engulfed Xarin and he fell. Gonda thought this was the moment to strike, the mage seemed preoccupied with the pleasure of dealing with a warrior like Xarin. Gonda charged!
"I’m not through with you yet", a sphere flew from the mage’s left hand and repelled Gonda’s attack. Gonda had failed all of them. He had not won. No revenge would be taken that day. Then, he thought back to his master, the elf who had taught him so many magical tricks. They were only illusions for Gonda was such a young elf. His master died before he reached a mature age to learn true magic. So he had to teach himself. He thought back to those days, perhaps an elementary illusion would help him now. He thought deep and hard. The mage may not be able to keep his shield up if hundreds of objects were flying at him. So, Gonda started the illusion. Arrows began shooting out of the trees at the mage. "What sorcery is this?" he shouted over the sound of the arrows.
He began to charge, not a short charge as most charges go, because he was concentrating much on the illusions. He reached the mage and as his aura went down and he dispelled the weak illusion. Gonda struck! The mage screamed in pain and he saw a million lights come flying out of him and then Gonda knew it was done. The mage was slain and the army dead, but his revenge for his allies was sweet.
"Ouch! My head", he heard a familiar voices that sounded like Xarin’s. He climbed out of the crack and looked at me. Face covered with dirt and blood. "Next time you go off to fight a mage you can do it alone. I fight with the sword not the mind and hand and element, thank you!!!"
"...And that children is my story."", the old man said, satisfyingly having finished his story.
The kids looked around at each other questionably. "C’mon guys, let’s go. He is full of it! Those stories are just old forgotten wives tales", the five of them got up and moved out of the alley to the open street. It was mainly a cobble road, many horsedrawn wagons and carriages roamed the streets. The kids turned back and looked in the alley and saw the old hooded man walk out.
"Mark my words, soon you shall be engulfed in this old world with magic and creatures of long past. It is proficide to happen."
"Shut your mouth old man!" the boy who seemed to be the leader said.
As soon as the old man stepped out of the alley, a lady through a shoe at him. "Stop spreading those tails, you wretched bard of a man!" The woman closed the shutters with disgust.
"Kezin, let’s go", the young boy of thirteen could not get his eyes off the man. "Sandy, we’ll go to your house." The young girl did not reply to the one who seemed to be leader. She turned to walk ignoring the leader. "Sandy, are you ignoring me!" The boy walked in front of Sandy to block her way.
"Shut up, Tearn!" Sandy pushed Tearn to the ground. He looked up, surprised at her strength. He wiped the mud off his now dirty face from the road.
"You’ll wish you didn’t do that", he stared coolly into her eyes. She was about three quarters his size, but seemed about twice as strong as usual. He pulled back to throw a punch when Sandy gave him a kick to the lower area of that blue shirt he was wearing. He knealed over in pain and looked up into Sandy’s eyes. "You’ll pay for this embarrasement", he is squealing in a high voice from the pain.
The other boy, Gaerrin, and girl, Amaris, grabbed Tearn’s arms and restrained him from further fighting. The three of them are leaving in one direction and Sandy already left in another direction. Before Kezin could leave the ragged man grabbed him and pulls him into the alley with his mouth covered. "Before you resist or scream, I wish to tell you that I only want to prove that my story is true!" he slowly takes his hand off Kezin’s mouth and Kezin’s wide eyes stare at the man. With great dexterity the man pulled down his large green hood to reveal his pointy ears and smooth skin that hasn’t seen a whisker in at least a hundred or so years. The man who seemed ragged before no seems like an angel with flowing silver hair and the slender body of an elf.
"It can’t be, this must be some kind of trick", Kezin replied with awe.
"I assure you, it is no trick, young sir. I am as real and true as the street you walk on. I suppose your name is Kezin, mine is Gonda..."
"WOW! Was that story true, and you’re the guy, and, and...", he moves the hood back over his head.
"Yes I am. I’m an ancient elf of the high court of Wendle. Three of us remain that I know of. I ,however, changed the story a little. I did not slay the mage."
"So,... you lost!"
"NO! Do not interupt and you shall learn. While my illusion arrows flew through the air, I struck he blocked me, but one of the arrows was real. My friend, Silver, had shot one to assist me in the battle and ,with all the distractions, allowed the arrow to pass through the shield and kill the mage. The only reason I live today is that I was one of the chosen to stay behind and tell of the story that magic would one day return. It has been almost a thousand years since then. Everything remains the same. Towns burn, people die, and knowledge grows, yet everything stays the same", he pulls out a hand from one of the pockets in the green cloak. He opens his palm and in an instant, a piece of gold appears. "Try to grab to gold piece."
"Well, if you insist." Kezin grabs for the gold piece and it suddenly vanished. "How did you do that?"
"Magic", he states cassualy as if nothing strange had happened. "Someday your powers will even excede your imagination."
"I’m sure mankind will do well in the..."
"Not mankind! You! Kezin!" the man tries to restrain himself, "Kezin Galbrin, you shall save many and doom others!"
"How did you know my name?" Kezin asks.
"Why, you told me of course."
"Not my last name", Kezin persists.
"I have great knowledge", the man whispers in Kezin’s curious ear. "It shall never be used for the unrighteous. That is the reason why I never speak other than in stories."
After such a talk Kezin is stunned. He slowly gets up and walked out of the alley as though he were a zombie. A pain suddenly surfaced at the back of his head. No, not a pain, he realizes, it is a jarring, and curious, thought. Or perhaps, a burried talent somewhere inside him.
Before he turns to leave the valley, the strange man calls for him, "always fight with your heart, follow your heart not your head."
"Thank you, good sir. I shall take all of this to heart", Kezin says to himself. On the walk back to his house he watches many sights which have always been along the way, but he never noticed them before. He began to think deeply of Gonda’s words. Perhaps, the powers will not return, maybe they have been here all along. They were only forgotten by those with the talent. When he opens the door to walk into his house, he sees his beloved mother cleaning the house. His mother was leaning over a counter cleaning one of the four windows in the house, she has been a widow of many years now. She has flowing, long, beautiful blonde hair, and she has green eyes. She is wearing a serving wenches dress and an apron. There is a dinner table in the center of the room. Around the table were three straw chairs, which Kezin remembers there were four, but one day, Sandy had a rage and threw it. The dent on the wall is still there. On one wall of the room, there is a large stove which Kezin remembers sitting by one winter. It was the best year of his life, it was the day he met Sandy.
A young girl peeked in the window, and little Kez was surprised to see someone out. He was curled up in a blank by the stove and was still freezing. He hadn’t gone outside in almost a week, so he decided to leave the house for awhile. His mother was out, as always working at the tavern. When he opened the door, he was hit with a burst of wind. A small girl suddenly flew into view. She was wearing some furs for clothing, and she looked terrified, there was a small object in her right hand which Kezin couldn’t identify. She turned for the open door and, with a crash toppled Kezin over. They both went flying into the house at a rapid speed. When finally they landed with a crash, Kezin looked around and saw that she had put a small hole in one of the two bedroom doors which is still there today. Kezin was just about to speak up when he saw two large figures enter his view at the door. They were both dressed in good clothing and each of them had a knife. He looked and saw that the object she had was a large piece of meat.
"Give us the food little girl!", the two men said in unison. She stood up and turned to face them.
"I haven’t eaten in three days and you are going to deny me this meal", Kezin looked around confused. He felt in his pocket and there was a piece of string, some paper, and three copper. He turned to look at what was going on. The girl had hit one man down and the other was swinging with his knife. She ducked the blow and went for his legs. The first man got up off the ground and strained the girls feet. Before this went any further, Kezin screamed, "Let her go! And take these two copper for the food."
The two men paused and the girl smiled at them she stood up and brushed herself off and looked at the boy with a look of love. "Thank you! OH! You are so kind. You bad people, go away! I’m Sandy."
"I’m Kezin, and you’re welcome, fair lady."
"I’m not lady, too young, yet." The rest of that summer we had great fun and did much together. It was the greatest time of my life. Tearn and her have never gotten along but they always managed to hold back their anger to satisfy the group.
I entered my room, and looking around, the single window in my room has almost no light coming through. It is getting dark early, far too early to be normal. He looks out it to the sun, and it is being covered by a large dark splotch in the sky. Kezin thought, perhaps, a large creature is devouring the sun. Kezin feels something strong begin to move within him. It begins to cause great pain and he screams. His mother opens the door and looks to see Kezin errupt in flame and smoke then can no longer be seen. The flames still remain.
Meanwhile, a ways down the road, Sandy sees the eclipse of the sun and starts running to Kezin’s house. In the alley, Gonda feels a strange dark power and begins to head to Kezin’s house.
Meanwhile, as Gonda runs to Kezin’s, he runs into Sandy. His hood has now fallen and Sandy can see his pointed ears. "Those earth-vexing dark elves, they’ve returned to claim what is theres. Sandy, we must get weapons before continuing", she looked at him with confusion, wondering how he knew her name."
"F-from w-where wil... will we gget weapons!" she studdered.
"From there", he pointed at a small building behind the town hall. "Let’s go. Hurry!" The both of them ran to the shed. Gonda pulled out a long spear, short sword, and an axe. "I’ll take the short sword, you use these." Before they could get away, they heard a rustling of arms and armor.
"Hey, you put down those weapons and come this way!" They turned to see three town guards coming their way, wearing plate male armor, which usually glowed in the bright sun, but now looked no better than leather.
Gonda sighs, dropps his sword, and lifts his hands. Sandy stared in disbelief and says, "Don’t do it, we don’t have time for this."
A scowl formed on Gonda’s face, "I’ll take care of this!" The guards were about twenty feet away when Gonda began casting his spell. "I summon the powers of the ancients to create a dragon." Suddenly, in front of them appeared a large green dragon, it is beautiful, with shiney scales. "It’s only an illusion let’s go." Sandy couldn’t stop staring at the beast. Gonda grabbed her arm, "by the way, I’m Gonda." The two ran as fast as they could for the house. As soon as they arrive, all they can hear is screams from inside. "We must enter carefully, many things could be waiting for us inside. If we get separated, we must fight our way back to each other, for, one alone cannot survive in a world such as this." She enters the room with an incredibly loud howl, or war cry, however you would describe it. "Oh, and another thi..."
"I understand! Just shut up and figgghhhttt..." she cries as she swings at the hooded creature. The creature dodges the blow and his hood falls, this creature must be a dark elf, it has black skin and pointed ears. The hooded figure suddenly pulls out a small sword right as Sandy begins another swing. He dodges another blow and stabs for Sandy’s open chest.
"I summon a magical aura of earth to guard you!...", the sword which was once heading for Sandy’s lower abdomin is now reflected towards the ground. To Gonda’s surprise, he not only saved Sandy but he also sent the elf’s short sword flying through the air, and it lands in the ground at Gonda’s feet. He looked at the black sword and then at the ceiling, with one swoop of his sword, he cut a hole in the roof, which revealed light to the area of the sword. At this time the dark elf had dodged another axe swing and was diving for the sword, now revealed to the sun. He grabbed the sword and, in a split second, threw it down again in pain. It had melted and was very hot, this is the distraction that Sandy needed, she pulled back to swing and before she swings down to kill the elf a voice could be heard from the back of the room. Gonda looked and saw two hooded creatures holding Kezin and one waving his hands to cast a spell.
"I call upon ice to freeze you!" Sandy begins to swing down as she is hit with the spell and becomes, an ornament of ice. Gonda began to wave his hands to cast a spell when the dark elf mage turned toward him, "Silence!" Gonda moved his lips for the incantation, but no words were coming out of it. His spells were now useless until the silence wore off. The elves each pulls out a magic artifact of some kind, a ring which glows with magic. They each put them on and the mage puts one on Kezin also who is unconsious. Then the mage locks hand with the rest of them and casually says, "Return!" The five of them disappeared, and Gonda found he could speak again. He took out an unlit torch and began to light it with flint and stone. A young woman, Kezin mother steps out from the bedroom. "What have you done to Sandy, where is my little boy!" she runs to and hits him and begins to cry.
"I am hear to help! PLEASE! Stop! I’m going to melt Sandy out", Gonda explains.
"Why me? Not someone else. Why does it have to be my boy?" she cries while still hitting Gonda sadly. The torch is lit now, he goes to Sandy and the ice melts away into nothing. She falls to the floor, looking in normal health. She does not even look cold, "I’m surprised that you aren’t freezing from that."
"I’ve been in the cold all my life, I’ve gotten used to it! I never had a home, never knew my parents, never found out what happened to them", she says solemnly.
Starting Total Points: 30
Name: Kezin Galbrin Gender: M Race: Human Class: Mage
Strength: 4 Intelligence: 9 Speed: 6 Toughness: 4 Charm: 7
Traits: Quiet, Curious, Wants to be a face in the crowd
Age: 13 Eyes: Blue Hair: Black Height: 5’ 9" Weight: 125 Skin: White Frame: Light Sub-Class: Fire Level: 0
Name: Sandy Gender: F Race: Human Class: Warrior
Strength: 9 Intelligence: 3 Speed: 6 Toughness: 8 Charm: 4
Traits: Berserker, Immune to ice damage, Controls anger well
Age: 14 Eyes: Brown Hair: Brown Height: 4’ 11" Weight: 125 Skin: Pale Frame: Heavy Sub-Class: None Level: 0
Name: Gonda Silnati Gender: M Race: Elf, Ancient Class: Warrior-Mage
Strength: 8 Intelligence: 10 Speed: 10 Toughness: 8 Charm: 9
Traits: Story teller, Future teller, Evil mage slayer, Chooses friends wisely
Age: 1224 Eyes: Amber Hair: Silver Height: 5’ 5" Weight: 140 Skin: Tan Frame: Light Sub-Class: Illusion Level: 15
Name: Tearn Kalik Gender: M Race: Human Class: Warrior
Strength: 8 Intelligence: 5 Speed: 7 Toughness: 6 Charm: 4
Traits: Bossy, Full of himself, Immune to fire damage
Age: Eyes: Hair: Height: Weight: Skin: Frame: Sub-Class: Level:
Name: Amaris Multinis Gender: F Race: Human Class: Healer
Strength: 3 Intelligence: 10 Speed: 6 Toughness: 3 Charm: 8
Traits: Abused, Shy, Depressed, Very pretty, Only healed by magic
Age: Eyes: Hair: Height: Weight: Skin: Frame: Sub-Class: Level:
Name: Gaerrin Porter Gender: M Race: Human Class: Theif
Strength: 5 Intelligence: 7 Speed: 8 Toughness: 4 Charm: 6
Traits: Good friend of John, Sticks up for friends
Age: Eyes: Hair: Height: Weight: Skin: Frame: Sub-Class: Level:
