Welcome to Gaia! ::

A man rides the lonely path of despair in this cruel world of ours. Atop his black mare a man in armor rides to an ancient temple. His red cape flutters in the wind, no weapon can be found on this man; his armor looks battle torn and is greyer than the clouds above. On his horse the body of his slain bride, hung she was, for not paying proper respect to the tyrant king of their lands. The clouds let little light through, giving a very depressing atmosphere to the area. He came upon the temple taking the body inside and laying her upon thee alter and prayed a final prayer for her. Meanwhile in a distant land a young first mate aboard the pirate ship Redemption and Retribution, seemingly awaits his next adventure, when the captain decides to take after robbing one of the most giving churches. Elsewhere a samurai warrior becomes a bouncer for an inn famous for bar fights and a young female assassin waits for the time to kill him.
In the misted of his prayer a angel appears before the man in grey armor. “Andurael,” Said the angel. “Many hardships come upon you. Now is the time to bring retribution to the darkness. You have been chosen by the Lifefather to return hope to this world.” “A-angel! Why must the Creator do this, he has brought me much despair and now wishes me to give hope?” said Andurael. “The Lifefather has given you the task of casting the Dark One and his minions from this world and then when your task is done he shall have your bride returned to you,” replied the angel. “How am I to go about this task, mighty angel?” asked Andurael. “Take this sword, this is Seren’thil Sword of the Stars, it brings you the power of light and you will use that power to complete this task. Other will join you, and it’ll be come clearer. For your first task, liberate your people from the king of your lands,” the angel said before vanishing. Looking at the alter Seren’thil and then his bride, he took the sword (still sheathed) and took off on his horse with amazing speed to Castle Florrendell. The weeds separated at the mare’s shins and the blue crystal at the top of the sword’s handle gleamed on its own on the back of Andurael.
At long last he came upon the castle town, trotting in the street, the homes seemed to rot and the people were very unhappy dressed in their rags. About five people along the way died from disease and plague. He got off his horse and tied the reins to a pole. Ten guards approached Andurael and one man with a paper. “Sir Andurael McFairhan, you are here by arrested for treason to the king by carrying that weapon,” Said the small man with the scroll dressed in fine cloth garments. Andurael sighed. “I bested seven other knights in an all on one combat. You think your foot soldiers can stand a chance?” said Andurael to the small man. The twelve soldiers in chain and carrying pike begin to get into a battle formation. Andurael drew the sword from the scabbard, the blade was thinner more by the handle then the rest of the blade, blue runes lined thee edges of the sword and they glowed brightly. Andurael with unnatural speed jumps forth and jammed the sword in the torso then kicked off the body with a flip and finishing the flip by cutting one of the soldiers in half. After he sent a beam of blue energy from the blade along the ground and once hitting a soldier exploded in a blue blast killing the rest of them. “Damn, how did I do that?” remarked Andurael looking at the sword.
He walks toward the castle killing guard after guard and busted open the gate to the throne room with blue fire. Once in he was meant with heavy resistance. 30 strange humanoid creatures awaited him. “Dark powers? What in the name of- -,” Andurael was cut off by the king. “Amazing, isn’t it? To think the priests were afraid of such powers. Well we won’t be having to worry about them eh? So have you arrived to slay me? Pft I believe not!” remarked King Flornnern IV. The tyrant snapped and the creatures charged Andurael, however he flue into the air. The look of surprise on their faces was not near the look on his. Once in the air his sword and began too glow. With the sound of a lightening strike a fierce blast of blue energy took off from his hand at an awesome speed killing nearly a dozen creatures. Andurael fell back down, sword drawn and sliced through two more. One of the creatures daunted towards him and jumped at his head knocking off his helm. His helm clanged against the marble flooring bouncing about three times before rolling off in the shadow of a pillar. His long black hair caught the blood from the attack and with anger he rose and smites the creature with a white bolt of lightening from his sword. After defeating the rest of the creatures he turned his attention to the king. “Excellent!” the king said clapping on his throne “Excellent indeed!” The king rose from his throne drew a demonic great axe from his cloak. “But I must insist….” He began to say. He smashed the axe on the floor sending a black purple shockwave towards Andurael. “….Your demise,” finished the king. Andurael jumps the shockwave and slashed his sword horizontally. It sends bolts of blue energy at the king which was countered. They both clash weapons when Andurael dives at him from the air. Flornnern flung Andurael against a wall sending him flying into a courtyard. The king came flying at him with his axe poised for his torso but Andurael rolls out of the way in time for the King to smash his axe on the stone. With final strike Andurael beheads the king and the head rolls into the shadows and the body falls on the ground with a thud blood oozing from the neck. A crowd gathered around Andurael in awe, he single handedly brought a kingdom to its knees, he sheathed his sword and jumped on to the wall and then off into the town. He climbed on the horse and took off to the coast.
A young man, barely old enough to be considered a man, sits on the edge of a famous pirate ship, his brown hair flowing in the wind, rapier clashing against the side of the ship, red and blue tunic stained with blood and wine from a bar fight, pants tucked in his boots. “Laddy!” said a husky captain walking up to him “We be heading down to pillage us some loot from one of the riches places in all the land.” “Sounds good cap’tin,” replied the first mate “I just hope this aint gonna be like the last couple of times where we were pillaging innocent folk.” “Raphael, don’t ye be worrying about that. Yargh! this place aint what we would call innocent.” replied the captain. “Fine then. Let’s get to it!” remarked Raphael. The ship sailed to the coast of a small island and the pirates unloaded and went up passed a small woodland area to a large chapel. “Here?! the famous Chapel of Light!? This is too far captain!” said Raphael. “Quite boy!” Replied the captain “A vast ye silly priests! This chapel now belongs to the pirates of the Redemption!” A priest no more than five foot nine opens the door and walks with a staff that has a steel cross on it. “Why do you defile this place? Leave now!” demanded the priest. “HAHAHAHAHAH! And what would a priest do to convince us to leave. Men kill this man!” ordered the captain. The screams and torment of those who had perished at the hands of his crew and captain all flashed through Raphael’s mind. “No,” he said harshly drawing his rapier. He trusted his sword into a pirate in front of him; the priest took his staff in both hands smashed in the skull of a pirate then drove it into another’s groin. Raphael and the captain lock in a fierce dual and trampled all over the pirate holding his groin in pain. The monk planted his staff in front of him and spun his feet around breaking the jaws and necks of three pirates and then took the staff with the momentum and struck down two more. Meanwhile the captain was forced up a stair chase to the roof of the chapel; their blades clanked fiercely, both excellent fencers. “Give it up boy! I know all your moves!” the captain said while parrying a thrust. “How about this one!” replied Raphael as he flips over the captain and kicked him off the roof and he fell dead on his front. The monk had finished off the last of the pirates and turned toward Raphael. “You seem to be a good martial artist. What is your name?” asked Raphael. “Wesley Norris. Yours?” said Wesley. “Raphael Lorrens,” replied Raphael. “Mind if I accompany you to the Bloody Ale Tavern?” requested Wesley “How did you know I would go there?” asked Raphael. “The Lifefather told me I am to accompany you.” Said the monk. “Very well, I need someone to help me man the ship anyway.”
The two of them set sail to the most famous pirate inn, the Blood Ale Tavern. They walk up to the door and a samurai is blocking it. “Holt! Oh it’s you! Raphael, my apologies, I didn’t recognize you without the crew. What happened to them?” said the samurai. “Dead all dead. They attack a chapel so I lost it and killed to captain.” replied Raphael. “Ah I see, how terrible. Can you believe I am working as a bouncer? There’s a rumor going around of a grey knight, you can bring a kingdom to its knees.” Said the samurai. “Wow, both of those are odd,” remarked the monk. “Oh, Hiro this Wesley,” said Raphael. “Nice to meet you.” said the monk. “A pleasure to meet a man of the creator.” replied Hiro.

To be continued……….