Legend of Revenge
By
T.G.Mage
Dedicated to:
Andrew Smith
Michael Quinn
Derick Mills
Derik Sutton
And
Evan Norris
Without them this would never be in existence.
Chapter 1
My story is a long and complicated one to say the least. I have been through travels that most men could only dream of, and yet in the end, I lie further away from my goals than ever before. I guess it would be easy to start from the beginning, most would think that anyway. But if I were to do that, you would only end up utterly and completely lost. Therefore I will simply start were you would least expect, since I am sure you expect so much from this so far. I shall simply start by describing to you, me. I am a simple being, humanoid you could say, however my origins are far from that. I am from a race that, unbeknown to most, can take the form of any other life form or living object that can be thought of. However as you could probably guess, this is a tricky maneuver to perform, let alone master, and even though my race, species, however you wish to label us has the inherent genetic ability to do this, most choose not to because of the dangers involved. Such abilities can cause those unable to summon the will and consciousness to remain trapped in a monstrous form, unable to undo the changes that had been done, most often loosing sanity becoming nothing more than a beast in there own right. Aside from this unique and hereditary ability, we are very plain; we have very little difference from what you would call mankind. In fact the only difference that is noticeable, physically that is, is that above our shoulders, we have the same shape of head that you would expect of a human, but we are born without mouths, strange as that may seem. Aside from our inability to grow hair like normal mammals, this is our only physical difference, however I have learned that differences often can cause fear and hatred to arise in the common person. You could say that our naturally developed communication skills only tend to make things worse; you see we are telepathic, meaning that we speak using only our minds, however, this is a problem because again the differences between me and those of my race tend to frighten the average individual. Therefore we stay mostly in the shadows, rogues of sorts because, like many other worlds and realities, this one is simply not ready to notice us yet.
Now that you have some idea about me, and the way I react to the world, let me give you an Idea of the world I suddenly found myself a part of.
Suddenly, as if I had simply fallen asleep, lost my memory, and replaced it with some vivid dream of a far off place, I found myself awoken by strange persons, within strange surroundings. Lying at the base of a mountain. These were strange creatures talking rather loudly as if something interesting had been discovered. Frantic yelling and shouting, indistinguishable as it was there thoughts sank straight in to my clouded and confused mind, giving me a clear view of the entire scenario. It turned out, it was me. I was what the commotion was all about. These creatures, I came to know as Humans, stumbled upon me after a child with there caravan wandered off. The child was found near me, playing with what it thought to be an animal, although I can say I don’t remember it at all. As I stirred and started to right myself, these humans jumped, terrified that the strange unknown had simply came to life. Had I known what I did next would have the same reaction, I wouldn’t have tried to speak with them. As I explained earlier, my voice rings through in the heads of those I try to speak with, not the ears and mouths. This frightened them most of all. I still find it interesting how fearful the unknown is to most modest beings in this world. As you can expect, they fled quite hastily leaving behind only me, the dust flying through the air, and what I can only guess was a hasty uncontrolled release of bodily waste from fear of what had just happened.
From here I was alone for some time, following a path that lead towards what I had hoped was civilization, I had so many questions, I still had no clue what was going on with me, last I knew I was simply with others of my kind, however, what we were doing I cannot say, I am still to this day not quite sure.
I didn’t remember anything of what was around me, it was all new. All I wanted to know was how I had arrived here. When a town appeared on the horizon I was happy only to find some life on this desolate place, there was much greenery, but other than the paths that lie in the ground, you would think it a wild and desolate piece of greenery. Straight into town, straight to the first being I saw, and straight in the other direction is where they ran when they saw my face. These were strange creatures these humans, they had large bumps on the center of the head, with two holes in the bottom of them. If this didn’t look weird enough, they had another gaping hole that continuously changed shape and released the most ghastly sounds and smells. Along with this these beings had no control over what thoughts they sent out everything on there mind was out there for anyone to see, yet no one seemed to notice a single one.
(You do not belong here, with these people, leave now while you are still able.)
I heard. I looked around, nothing. There was no one truly paying any attention to me, yet that voice was in my head. Was there another such as myself that saw these pointy faced beings and heard everything they thought. But where, why is that person hiding. Then I caught sight of them, they were the only thing in this place other than myself that just didn’t seem to fit in this place. There were three of them, The first was a decent height, yet he looked like he had just been risen from beyond the grave. Darkness swirled all around him, it seemed as if even the air wanted nothing to do with him. The next was a large being with brightly shined armor, carrying on him a large shield and a long sword sitting in plain view for all to see. But, he didn’t seem to fit walking with the demon that he was. In a place such as this those who stand out do seem to fit together, however, the righteous figure of a shiny armored knight and the solitary figure of the night, walking within an arms grasp just didn’t fit quite right in my mind. Then there was the third being, awkward in its own right, it moved as if it weren’t alive. This being showed no sign of actual life, not like the others, the dark one wore a scowl, his eyes showed pain, and his movements showed hatred. The shiny armored knight showed a look of curiosity, had bright exuberant eyes, and walked in a manner of self confidence that showed he knew full well how to use the weapons that he brandished. However the third figure showed no expression, his eyes, dull and dead as a machine, and his movements choppy and exact, as if there was no real life within him. It was almost as if he had had no real awareness of the world, that some mystical magic compelled him to do every little movement. A Giant redwood in the middle of a barren dessert fit into place better than these three. An air of silence filled around the entire town as they entered it. These three oddities moved so well together that the commoners hushed in anticipation of what their next movement or action was to be. It almost seemed as if the entire town was waiting on a weapon to be pulled and their entire way of existence annihilated from the face of this barren world.
Then It happened, the opposite of what it seemed everyone was expecting. When I arrived, I came quietly without much notice, but these three, they came with a presence that demanded the attention of everyone, I guess that wasn’t appreciated too terribly much. It was a bottle, some sort of liquor bottle, that finally broke the silence. There was a Pub almost at the middle of the town, when the three got right outside of those doors, a large liquor bottle came hurling out the old saloon doors right towards them. It was difficult to figure out exactly what happened, all that I do know for sure is that when they reached the outside of the saloon doors, that the soulless being was closest to the doors, the shiny armored night furthest, and the three seemed to be led by the demon. Then the bottle came, out of nowhere, yet as it flew, the soulless one, simply vanished at the same time that a gun went off. It was difficult to understand but from what I have figured out, as the soulless one disappeared the demon pulled a gun and completely obliterated the bottle before it passed half the distance between them and the saloon.
After this, there was much screaming inside the tavern. Blood curdling screams of people dying and receiving painful inflictions, then, silence. Then the soulless one simply walked through the doors to the outside world, soaked in blood. What weapon he used can only be guessed, but what is known for sure, the reason the entire town turned on them was because of the atrocities committed within that tavern. The Armored one bent over and almost lost his lunch at the sight of the bloody one, and the demon simply started to move forward as if nothing at all had taken place. The armored knight straightened up, regained composure and followed a pace or so behind, and the soulless one simply followed without hesitation or reaction, as if it was just supposed to follow as a trained dog would. I was so entranced by the movements and actions of these three that I hadn’t even noticed the townsfolk go into an uproar. I looked around and in the hand of every villager and commoner was a rifle or weapon of some sort. Was this a normal village, such armaments in the hands of the common people. However with all this act of aggression from the townsfolk, the three seemed to not even notice it. Or if they did, they didn’t care, they simply kept walking. The three passed by were I was, the soulless one closest, I never knew how horrific the smell of death was. The blood soaked being passed by swiftly, but as the stench of his coverings hit me I all but blacked out, it was so overwhelming. I was doubled over almost on the ground. When I finally overcame the sickness that arose from that ghastly stench, I looked around to not see the three anywhere, however it was extremely obvious as to where they were. The townsfolk had surrounded the towns trader, that seemed to be the smithy of the town as well. Shouting and yelling can’t even begin to describe the curses that were being shouted into the shop at the three, all in an attempt to get them out into the street again.
Then, as if it were the spectacle the crowd was waiting for, the shop owner stumbled out of the door, covered in his own blood, with the hilt of a claymore sticking out of his shoulder, and the tip of the blade extruding from his side below his ribs. An act of considerable strength would have been required to do something such as this. As horrific an action as this was, I couldn’t help but admire the strength and creativity of killing someone in this manner. This was my thoughts as the world started to show red, and fade from my eyes, apparently I couldn’t stand the sight of so much blood any longer.
I had finally come too, but I wasn’t in the street anymore, I wasn’t in a familiar surroundings, was it all a dream, had I simply awoken from a nightmare of three monsters. Then I realized that I was bound, and in a dark room, a stable it seemed. Night had fallen, how long was I out. Difficult to say, I couldn’t tell where the stars were in the sky. The only things I could see around me as my eyes finished focusing on the stables, there were animals as expected in such a place, horses mainly, but some other random ones, a few ducks and chickens. It seemed I was hanging from the main support beam of the town, my feet bound by rope, and my hands bound to the beam. The knots were pretty sturdy because as hard as I had tried to wiggle my way out of them, I simply couldn’t. I had noticed a smell in the air as well however it was hard to place, mixing with the smells of the stable, it was indistinguishable.
After working with the ropes for some time, I was finally able to free myself from the beam, however my feet being bound was still a problem. This town couldn’t possibly be full of commoners, there is no way a commoner could make such efficient use of rope, the knots in the rope were somehow tarnished by some form of magic. The smell of oils, and potions were easily apparent, yet the air still had a strange odor, different from that of the brews on the ropes. Still my feet being bound wasn’t helping. I looked around for some sort of blade, then I realized that even though these weren’t plain commoners, they weren’t exactly well educated either. Leaning against the wall relatively close to where I was strung up, lay a very large sword, about four and a half feet long, and around a foot in width. Next to it a rather large double bladed axe, and a strange sword that seemed to have a star shaped end to it, the blade ran straight most of the way out then widened gradually till it came to a point making a T shaped look, then from those outside points the blade sloped back towards the center of the blade ending in a point the way a regular blade would, in the end the blade made an odd looking cross. This blade felt odd to hold, the balance on the blades were terrific, but the star pointed blade had a feeling of energy emanating through me as I held it. Then there was a staff, only about four feet tall, topped with a what looked like a crystal, but was unmistakably a dragons eye. There were two distinct spikes coming out from below the eye, one curving up, the other curving down. This item as well, sent out a feeling of presence, just holding this staff, gave the feeling of being able to control the most fierce beings with a single thought. In a situation like this, I felt no remorse taking all the weapons, with all the commotion before I lost consciousness, I figured it was only a matter of time before I am on the receiving end of all the random violence, and I wasn’t about to just sit and die without reason.
Then I heard them, sounding like a heard of wild beasts, many men, rushing towards me, not yet in the stable, but coming quickly and angrily. They busted through the door, I had no time to react, they grabbed me before I could even draw the weapons I had just adorned. It is almost insulting that they didn’t even bother disarming me, it seemed as if I wasn’t really that big of a threat. Out to the edge of the town I went, to a large piling of branches and logs that must have been some hefty beasts heavy burden to place there. In the center of all of these a large tree that had been shaved top to bottom of all branches and limbs, looking like a large spire of wood. I could smell much more clearly now what I couldn’t make out whilst in the stable. Burning wood and human flesh. All outsiders that had entered the town had apparently been burned at the steak, however, among the charred remains I still saw nothing even resembling the three that had destroyed so many.
They planned on throwing me onto the flames like the many before me. Fight as I did, I found it impossible to break free of my captors, these were large well built men, from the look of them they were trained fighters, calloused from hard work and training. The more I fought the more I found it impossible, and as I realized the futility in my actions, I simply started to loose control of myself. Frantically I fought, and struggled like a wild animal cornered before sent to his death. It seemed the more I struggled, the more of the beast within that I let out, the world around started to loose control as well, everything started shaking. It didn’t make sense, everyone started loosing footing, holes opened in the ground were it just began giving away and swallowing those beings that were attempting to destroy me. Then the ground under the warriors gave way, sending them into a bottomless pit that would be sealed as there grave.
Suddenly all was quiet. No sound, no screaming, no fire, no bodies, nothing. I stood at the edge of a massive crater that had been a town. No life was there, only nothingness. Then suddenly I couldn’t stand the sight of all the blood that only a second ago I was surrounded by, boiling and steaming out of the crispy bodies that had been burned alive. Fight as I might I couldn’t fight off the weariness, it seemed that battle I was destined to lose. As the world faded from my eyes, I could barely make out three figures slowly making there way towards what had been until just now a town, an outpost of civilization in a this world, making there way to what now is the only thing that remained of that place aside from a gapping whole in the world, me. And the last thing I remember, is the thought being sent into my head, (You stayed, and you lived. I didn’t expect one such as you to survive the like of them.)
As I came too, I noticed a tree line above, I was moving. As the world came to me, I realized I was on a cart moving through the woods on a caravan. It was a small group, and only three of the figures I saw were familiar to me, the demon and his companions from the town. This time they weren’t alone, there were about five or so humans accompanying them, average looking to the naked eye but they all held a presence around them that you couldn’t place. The only thing that was easy to figure out was that even though to the naked eye they looked normal, a gut instinct wouldn’t let you believe it. We were traveling through a rather thick wooded area, two humans in front, the shiny knight walking behind them, then the demon. After him was the cart, a rather awkward cart pulled by a pack mule, it looked like someone took random tree limbs tied them together to make a board, took the outside two and made them stick out so that it could be attached to an animal. The only thing that looked halfway normal about the cart where the wheels that it had, round wooden wheels attached like you would expect from an old settlers wagon.
(Finally awake I see.)
I looked around to see who said it, but none of the people in front of the cart were paying any attention to me at all. I sat up. There were three more humans following and the lifeless one was sitting on the end of the cart with his feet dangling over the end, but none of them were paying me any heed either.
(You have been sleeping for quite some time, almost a full day.)
That voice had to be coming from somewhere, yet still no one seemed to be paying any notice to me. Finally I decided to speak up, “Who is saying that, who is speaking to me?”. Almost Immediately the lifeless one turned his head and looked at me with its dull empty emotionless eyes and without his mouth moving one bit he said (I am. My name is Seeth, and you are?)
“My name is Mirth, where exactly am I?” I said. (Mirth, huh. That name I awkward, This is the edge of the known world, a barren wasteland that is controlled by extremists that are trying to break from the government, although they never get that far before they get smacked back into place. You don’t work for the government do you?) He said.
“No, I…” I tried to say but was cut off after I got the first word out. (That’s good, because we find you interesting Mirth, and that would be a shame if you worked for the government because we would have to kill you.) he said. (I guess I should give you an idea of who you are with, considering you are clueless about everything else. I am Seeth, That knight up there you can call captain, he doesn’t really care for names but he used to be the captain of the guard back before his home town was overrun by some mysterious army. The dark figure you see up ahead is Axel Gunn, Not much is known about him, except that he is the most ruthless fighter you will ever meet, that I know of he cares for no one and nothing.)
“You don’t seem to know them too well.” I said. (That is true, we only started traveling together recently, we were sent to make sure that some cargo reached its destination without problem and now we are returning to collect the rest of the payment for the job.)
(It is always good to find people with interesting talents, even though they may not realize what they can really do.)
“Where exactly are we headed?”
(There is a small mountain range just past this forest, on the other side of that is a small town that you can leave us at if you want to. But I wouldn’t expect them to be any more excepting than the village you just leveled.) after he said this he burst out into a bit of laughter.
“What do you mean, I didn’t do anything back there. It was an earthquake or something.” I said, I was so confused. (You really don’t have a clue, you probably don’t have any idea what you are truly capable of. Your fear and distress released something in you boy. That earthquake didn’t just happen, something in you made it happen.) he said. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, there was no possible way for that to be true. How could I have possibly controlled the ground.
(It’s probably a good thing that we found you, you may be able to learn how to use that ability if you stick with us. There are many creatures in this world with inherent, uncanny abilities just like you. The average person can teach themselves to do amazing things like that, but normally it takes something tremendous to awaken an inner power such as yours.)
For the longest time we just followed the path through the woods in silence, just watching the trees go by. The Captain slowed enough to get beside the cart. He introduced himself, didn’t give the name though. We chatted about random things, he informed me of many things of this world. There was a government in power that is loosing a battle with an unknown enemy. The current government is loosing control of most outlying towns and no matter what the allegiance of the towns there are rumors of a dark force overrunning towns on the outskirts of society. It seems that the towns are just vanishing without a trace. Parties have been sent to find out if anything has happened only to never return again. No word from town after town, and person after person has simply vanished searching for answers.
The Captain seemed rather straight forward and honorable. He was simple in describing himself, all he said was, “I am merely a knight on a quest, I abhor dishonor, but swear fealty to neither the good nor evil. Nothing will stand in my way, no matter how righteous the obstacle. If something or someone tries, I will destroy it without a moments hesitation. Let this be a warning to you Mirth, I care not what your quest is, but stand in the way of mine, and you will die.”
The edge of the woods came nearer and nearer, and as they did the peaks and dives of the mountains I had been told about came into view. Even though I was told that is was a small mountain range, it was rather difficult to believe when faced with the sight of these towering mountains of rubble. As we came closer and closer to the mountains, I noticed that the humans accompanying us seemed to become slightly restless. I was still curious about them, why were they here, they didn’t seem warriors even thought they wore calluses on there hands. They carried weapons but didn’t’ look to be able to use them. The knight wore his sword hung low, ready to draw and always with his hand close to the hilt. While these humans hung there swords high, close to there hip, and they constantly kept there arms in motion with there walking, not prepared for battle. Another thing I noticed as we drew closer to the mountains was that the hilt of the Captains sword was well worn with use. The humans with us, they seemed to have brand new equipment, unworn from use. It would be a good bet to place that they haven’t drawn swords for quite some time.
The closer we drew to the mountains, the more the humans became agitated. They started to chatter amongst themselves, I couldn’t make out much, but I was able to gather that there have been rumors of attacks by strange mechanical contraptions and large beasts bent on destroying anything living that crosses there paths. This place seemed peaceful enough.
We neared the mountain and as I began to become accustomed to the sheer magnitude and magnificence of these giant rock formations, I noticed a small parting in the rocks, a cave. It seemed rather large to simply call a cave, however it was just that, a tunnel passing through these magnificent stone giants.
We went through the opening with no hesitation, as soon as we entered I wondered how on earth we were supposed to see within this dark place. Once we entered the cave I was even more confused about that than before. We used no torch, and no item anyone had emitted light. I wondered if anyone with use was using some sort of magic to light the way, but I still didn’t know.
(Your wondering how we know where we are going.) Seeth said. “Actually yes, I was.” I replied. (I wasn’t asking, simply remarking.) he said as he let out a controlled burst of laughter. ( Axel was raised underground or something, he hates lights in dark places, or using torches at night. He leads the way and warns us if there is anything to worry about. Although I don’t think he knows that I can see better than he can in here.) he said, letting out another burst of laughter louder than the first then disappeared from the end of the wagon. I have no idea where he went to, but I do remember that he wasn’t near me anymore.
We traveled for quite some time without a sound aside from the echoing of footsteps, hoof steps, and the random noises that the wagon made. The cave started to grow slightly lighter, and it was becoming more visible to the normal eye, the crags, stalagmites, and stalactites were becoming noticeable. Then in the distance a light was visible. Although it had an orange red hue with the glow of the evening sun, but that is how we knew we were nearing the end of the cavern. From what I could see of the humans with us, although it was still too dark to be perfect sight, they seemed to be relaxing a little knowing that the portion of the journey through a pitch dark cave was nearing its end. As I looked around trying to see what had happened to the Seeth, I noticed that Axel had moved his way to the back of the group. Seeth was nowhere to be found. It confused and surprised me because Axel was supposed to be leading the group through the cave. I guess now that the light could guide us he decided to move to the rear of the group. I didn’t let it worry me too much, I decided I was done of riding, because my back side had began to go numb from the movements of the cart. So I removed myself from the wagon and started to walk beside it at least till we were out of the cave, I didn’t figure the village would be that far from here anyway so I might as well have gotten my exercise.
Then cutting the silence like nails across a chalkboard, a blood curdling scream echoed throughout the cavern. Then a gunshot, and everyone stopped. In all the confusion it was hard to tell exactly what was going on. Then another scream and gunshot, in the flash I saw him. Cutting through one of the humans like a sharp knife through butter. Axel, he must have went to the back of the cavern to work his way from the back of the group to the front. I heard a sword drawn that sounded like it was coming from the entrance of the cavern. Soon after that sound before I could even turn to see who drew there weapon, I was shoved aside slamming into the wall of the cavern by the Captain. I watched him charge Axel, then a blinding flash and a sound of metal cutting metal. After that I saw another muzzle flash illuminating the end of the sword sticking out from the back of the Captain as Axel stuck the gun right past the captain to shoot another of the humans. In the shadows I could see him push the lifeless remains of the Captain off of his blade, placing his foot on the shoulder of he remains, then emptying a full clip on him. He slowly reloaded his gun, I heard a few clicks from him messing with it after it was reloaded. Then he lit up the cavern with the next volley of shots, they shot so fast together that the muzzle flashes looked like a torch on the end of his gun, and in the resulting illumination, I saw blood covering the walls, all of the humans were either dead or close to it. The general was loosing his head, and the only living things in the entire cavern was the pack mule, Axel and myself.
Darkness again, and now I had been blinded by the muzzle flashes and couldn’t even see the exit of the cavern anymore. Then, a final muzzle flash. This time it was pointed directly at me. I flinched and drew my arms up in surprise. As I did this the ground shook slightly and a thin amount of rock shot out from the wall, skimming the bullet. Then it hit me. My shoulder was against the wall when the bullet went through, I heard it hit the wall as the impact from the shot threw me to the ground. I fell and rolled, ending up on my back. I saw many more muzzle flashes as Axel systematically executed the pack mule with almost as much ferocity as he had done with the captain. In the light of those flashes, all I could see was the blood flowing from my freshly opened wounds. The world started to run red as I saw the pack mule falling to the ground, and as the world faded. I could see the figure known as Axel gun slowly and casually walking out of the cavern, as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. The last thought I had as I completely lost consciousness was how impressive a being that this Axel had to be in order to be so calm after a massacre as brutal as this. Aside from the growing hatred for the man that just tried to kill me. This is a man that could be respected, and was dangerous unless he was.
The world slowly came to light, and for once, I was in the same place that I was before I lost consciousness. I could see clearly in the cave now, the cavern was brightly lit now compared to how it was before I went under. I could easily see the corpses strung about the cavern. I got up and looked around, from the Captain all the way to the entrance of the cavern there was nothing but the remnants of a violent massacre. The Captain was the furthest corpse in the cave. His body completely mangled by the uncountable number of shells left in the ground beneath him. His head took the worst of the rounds leaving his body mangled but mainly intact. His head was there, but with the amount of damage done it could easily be considered decapitation. His sword was there with him though, as much as I hate to loot a corpse, such beautiful weaponry cannot be simply thrown away. The sword unsheathed was rather brilliant in design, simple yet elegant. I took hold of the hilt of the sword and felt a strange surge throughout my body. I held the sword up and looked into the blade, and as I did the surge intensified and then returned to the blade swirling throughout it, I had to see what it could do. I turned in toward the cavern, and took a practice swing, then another, and yet another, and with each one, a powerful burst of energy flowed out with it. The energy flowed out in a slice like motion tearing into the rocks and breaking apart rocks that had withstood years of build up, corrosion, and weathering like a fire through a clean piece of cotton. I had never seen such power in such a simple object. I had made weapons a long time ago, it was something that seemed to have been in another lifetime. But with all the work I had done working with metals, forging weapons, and armor. I had never seen anything with such power.
I sheathed the sword and continued to search the Captains belongings for anything helpful for me to find the demon responsible for this atrocity. Someone as cold and devious as this, along with the strength to topple nations should never be allowed to exist in the realm of men. I started to get a little light headed from the smell of death, it had slowly been starting to get to me, so I decided to start moving towards the exit of the cavern. I looked over all of the corpses for anything useful to me as I made my way out of the cavern. I noticed one of the humans that was with the convoy had a rather large cloak that through the hole in it that the demon made with his sword I could see it was lined with chain mail. His sword went straight through it however I decided to take it anyway. It had a hood that might come in handy covering my face at the next town or village. I learned my lesson at the last one, its better not to stand out unless your looking for a fight. The only other items of interest I could find on the rest of the corpses was money, and ammunition. I didn’t have a gun to use the ammunition because the only rifle that was with the group was sliced in half, although even if it weren’t I doubt it would be of much use to me, it was a small rifle used mainly for hunting and in battle would cause to little damage to try and fight with.
As I left the cave I noticed why it was so bright compared to before I passed out. I must have been out cold at the least throughout the night because it was mid day now. How many days had I been out?
Then it hit me. The hunger, in all the excitement I had had nothing to eat through the last two days at least. I could barely see straight I was so hungry, then I heard it and my sight became very clear. There was a river nearby and with any luck it would be fresh water, being near mountains and all. Luck was with me a lot these past few days because not only was it a fresh water river, but there were numerous fruit trees lining the riverbed. I tried for a while to catch a fish but was having difficulty. I am not a fisherman, that much was apparent. At least now I wasn’t starving. However I did have another bodily nuisance that needed taken care of, so I took the time to find a well covered spot in the brush and ejected the bodily waste that I am surprised I held on to during the run in with the demon.
After eating my fill of fruit and getting refreshed by the spring water, I decided it would be better to move on towards the next settlement wherever that may be, so I started to head down the path that came out of the cavern.
The sound on machinery grinding and pounding into the ground is unmistakable. So when I heard it I couldn’t help but stop and look around to see where exactly it was coming from. When I stopped I looked around only to find that not only was there no sight of what was making the sound, but the sound itself had stopped. It had to be close because of how loud it was, I could feel the ground shaking with each thud of the machine, but where is it. I continued to move on, and again I heard the machine. This was when I remembered the humans talking about savage thieves that attacked many along these paths. Of course me being alone and unfamiliar with the terrain, I panicked. I started running down the path as fast as I could possibly have gone. Then I heard a loud deafening slam of metal striking the ground with intense force. This was followed by a shadow completely engulfing me as if an eclipse had taken effect, then the sun shone again. A gigantic cloud of dust following a massive crushing in front of me forced me to stop and take cover from all the flying debris of the crash. When I returned to my feet I found a wall of ground about four feet high standing in front of me going about three or four feet in each direction, as if it had sprung up to protect me from the flying obstacles that had been hurled towards me. I peered over the wall to see a large mechanized form, about three story’s tall and looked humanoid but was obviously something that was being piloted. It sat there silent, motionless, as if the impact had paralyzed it somehow. I started to creep towards the tree line so that I may have been able to sneak around it undetected. As I did that, all hell broke loose. Sirens, beeps, and it shot up into a standing position with a massive cannon in one of its gigantic hands.
Again it was still and silent standing at the ready. Then with no easing into the motion, it charged. Pulling what for it would be considered a small dagger or knife, but was easily eight feet long and had a depth of at least two and a half to three feet. I barely had time to jump out of the way of the downward slice that was thrown at me. Then again the machine was as still as a ghost. I stood and drew my newest sword, I knew that there would be no way out of this fight. In order to survive, I would have to take down this metallic behemoth. This mortal made monster was only being predictable in its pauses so far, the attacks it throws come at random without any warning. Not moving anything but its arm, it extended it towards me, and it unloaded a large volley from the cannon. I Jumped for my life, and again, I looked up to find a crumbled wall of rock that had stopped the shot from reaching me completely. Was this something that I was doing, is there someone out there watching after me with the power to do something like this. I decided not to wait or run anymore. If I was going to make a stand here I was going to have to charge and take this machine down quickly. But where to strike, the head, the chest, the lower torso. The arms might be a good target, because they are the largest threat at the moment. I readied my blade, feeling the power swirl within me and throughout the blade, I charged, and as I got close to it, it sat itself upright and moved its arm sideways to knock me aside. I jumped to avoid it and swung my sword towards the arm. The energy slice from my blade hit home around the elbow of the arm, and the gun went flying into the brush. However the bladed hand was right behind it, and it hit me hard. I flew into a tree, throwing my blade, it landed sticking out of a tree that I would have no chance to run and get. I just keep getting lucky when it comes to landing blows and surviving fights, my blade swung up as I was hit, unleashing another slice of energy all but destroying the gigantic blade in the right hand of this mechanical beast. As fortuitous as that was my luck seems to always be mixed, I reached for another weapon, and found that all other weapons that I had been carrying had been flung away from me, all save one. The odd staff that had a dragons eye on the tip of it. The machine charged again, this time attempting to land a foot directly on top of me. It probably would have killed me in one hit, however I curled into a defensive ball using the staff as a shield as if it would be enough to protect me, and the machine was knocked over on its side, from a massive fiery blast. I looked at the end of the staff and the eye was glowing, I looked to the sky seeking the source of a tremendous roar, only to see a rather large draconic beast slipping from our world into some void, utterly disappearing. I was so distracted by this I was unable to react to the massive machine hand that was attempting to grab me. Before I knew it, I was clenched in a giant fist unable to move, unable to escape. I heard a snap, and what sounded like a release of something, then metal hitting the ground. I turned my head as far as I could to the point that I thought my neck would snap. All I could manage to see out of the corner of my eye was a human figure jumping out of the chest of the machine, and running full tilt away from it. Then I heard the beeps, slow, dreadful beeps sounding in a rhythmic pattern. I had a bad feeling about it, and at that time I knew there was little chance of me escaping from the hand before what I knew was inevitable happened. The beeps slowly became more rapid. I knew it was some sort of bomb, I had seen one many years before, I didn’t think I’d ever be on the receiving end of one. I closed my eyes, accepting that there was nothing I could do, and I kept thinking of the walls of rock that kept appearing, saving my life. I found myself thinking rather hard on that, then I found myself thinking, “It would be an amazing save if one of those walls shot up from the ground ripping through the arm that held me, and protected me from the blast”. The next thing I knew I was picturing it happening, then all of the sudden, I heard a loud crash, as if a great locomotive slammed full tilt into the side of a mountain. I opened my eyes to see that what I had been imagining, and thinking of happening, had happened. There was a large thick wall that shot out of the ground breaking through the arm, blocking my view of the main section of the machine. Then a loud bang, followed by everything crashing down. The hand fell apart and I found myself being flung again into that same tree. However when I looked around, there was nothing but dust and a pile of rubble left from where the machine was. I had survived, but how? Was there some being with the ability to control forces beyond my richest fantasy. Or was I in my richest fantasy yet. Am I simply delusional, or is it possible that I had somehow managed to control the ground and escape my own demise? All I knew was as I began to loose consciousness yet again I realized how much I hated being unable to control whether or not I was conscious or not, for it seemed the past few days that I was unconscious more than anything.
I awoke, but instead of my usual bewilderment and curiosity I woke this time to confusion and skepticism. I began wondering whether or not I was in a dream and just unable to wake up. Maybe I had slipped into a comma and that would be the main reason that I was unable to wake from this continuous string of horrors. But how to be sure of it. They say that if you die in a dream that you would surely die in reality, but if you pinch yourself it isn’t supposed to hurt. If it was so real to your mind, wouldn’t you feel what your mind perceived as you pinching yourself. Pain is a general illusion brought on by the minds over-exaggeration of discomfort, so I don’t think I could tell from inducing pain upon myself. Maybe I should just sit and wait until I wake up. Just sit in the middle of the road. That was the most prevalent thought in my mind at that time. I was so confused as too how I had gotten to where I was and whether or not it was reality that I became convinced that it was all a dream. I figured that since I realized it was a dream then I couldn’t truly be injured or die within it, because I knew it wasn’t real. So I sat down in the middle of the road in the middle of the evening. Sat there with closed eyes waiting on something or someone to wake me up from this fictitious reality. Minutes passed as I meditated on this, then hours. Before I knew it night had fallen and I sat in the darkness alone, yet unafraid. After all, it is nothing but a dream.
I awoke to the sound of hooves pounding the ground. This sound became louder and louder by the second but I was so confused about where I was that I didn’t realize that there were two war-horses fully dressed in armor heading straight for me. Didn’t they see me, they had to be able too. I was in the middle of the road, I thought as the horses made no effort to avoid me. That was the point that I realized that it was the middle of the night on a night with no moon. The horses came within a body’s length before they realized I was in there path. I ducked down in the fetal position hoping and praying for a miracle and instead of feeling the full weight of a horse and rider full clad in war armaments, I felt shoed hooves scrape across my back as one horse jumped over me. The other was over to the side enough to avoid me with ease and kept on going faster and faster. The other however. That had been trailing was not so fortunate. Its rear hooves hit my back throwing it off balance knocking it forward. With all the weight from the armor, rider, and carriage the horse was unable to retain its balance and both horse and rider toppled over onto the side of the road. The rider was flung from his mount and slid forty paces down the road. I leapt to my feet only to realize how much damage was done by the horses legs. As I rose so did I fall, by the time my feet were under me my back throbbed with so much pain that my head became to light to keep a hold of my balance. Again I tried to rise, this time with a little more caution for the injuries that I might have had. I wobbled over to the horse as it staggered against the weight it carried to its feet. I noticed that even though there were many sheaths and quivers on the animal, all of them were empty save one, and on that one sheath the sword was loosened from its resting harness and half drawn. I looked over to see the rider with an arrow sticking out of his shoulder, not a serious wound, it seemed stuck in the armor. The rider had happened to keep hold of his great axe which showed his skill at combat. This however did not ease my mind. Although I was positive that this was another horror for me to imagine I didn’t want to take a chance that I was wrong. I looked about to see my weapons strung about as they were after I had hit the tree. It had proved useful before so I grabbed the strongest weapons I knew I had, my staff, and the star pointed sword. I made my way over to see if the man was ok to find him staggering up facing me screaming. Most of what he was saying was too garbled by a combination of him muttering and its being garbled by his faceplate on his armor. He flung his armor open and started screaming some more. “The bloody hell are you doin’ in the middle of the bloody damned road you bloody…..” from then on his rant became so unrecognizable it would take someone of inhuman intelligence to be able to translate anything he said. Then he looked at me and noticed my weapons and he froze. He did nothing but starred at me with a death glare of a grimace on his face for some time before he made a simple statement. “You’ve got some bloody big balls brandishing my brothers Beamed Blade around like that.” He said with absolutely no feeling in his voice. Then he said, “Are you the one responsible for leaving him lying dead in the cave like that?” He started to walk towards me at a rapidly increasing pace “Guess it doesn’t matter anyway seeing as how you’ll be dead in a matter of a few moments from now.” He bolted towards me with his axe held high poised to finish me off in one strong final blow.
All of the sudden the pain I had been feeling from my fatigue and injuries simply vanished as if it never were. At the same time I felt something snap within me and I lost control of myself. I turned into something that can only be described as simply primal. The being I had been up until this point had been one of quiet withdrawn cowardice, and now was nothing more than an animal with only the basic instincts of survival running through my veigns. At this point I ceased being a humanoid being, only the beast within remained.
As the rider charged full on towards me I stepped to the side just before he went to strike me down, and as his rather large great axe swung down passed my body and stuck into the rotten soil of the road my “beamed saber” in his terms went up striking his torso at an angle. I felt the blade sink into his innards I also felt a surge of power flow from the center of this primal force that had been unleashed out through my arms down into the blade and sliced out into the rider slicing him clean in half spilling his blood and intestines all over the road. As he lay there bleeding to death holding his organs up to his body with his final breathes he cursed every inch of my being. Then silence, only the smell of carnage remained. I have heard tell of a traveler that laid waist to a noble knight on the very same road, I never dare speak up that I was that traveler because the stories of that traveler spread far and wide expanding in gore and disgust each time it passed. Though word of this might make bandits think twice before attacking this random wanderer through dreams, I am no monster. That and the tale that has passed has attracted many whom wish to claim my life because of such tales. As of now I wander to somewhere unknown for an unknown time covered in the blood of my enemies riding an armored horse taken from the dead. Of all the horrors I have seen as of yet in this nightmarish dream, The only one that is truly terrifying is that I liked it. The feel of a dead man upon my blade. I smiled at the thought. Maybe I am a monster, maybe I am the demon of this dream meant to make babies cry and terrify children around the campfire.
Reply
