The Realm of Austur Episode 1: A New Light

"Contrary to what you believe, there is a reason why I did this that has nothing to do with politics," Jacob said coldly, before his tone changed to a more accusatory one, "But if it makes you feel better about the fact that you were the one who kidnapped her and took her away from her home against her will, and willingly left her with that cruel couple, who tried so hard to break her spirit at any cost... If it really makes you feel better about all of that, then sure, you can think of me as the villain."

"For the good of Austur," he said simply before walking through the portal.

"And that should be it." Shalla said,marking things off
"I get the impression you are always prepared." Serlen muttered. To him,she had a sense of familiarity,of someone he knew.
"Of course, I have a schedule planned out for nearly everything. I figured you could help around the village before you...left." Shall replied.
He tried his best to ignore the dejected tone in her voice,but found himself failing to.

"I always keep my word,so you'll have no worries about me backing out now. I can't leave people without soldiers to play the role of pawn for some vile man." He remarked firmly. Shalla did not reply as she stocked potions into her small brown bag.
"Your accent," she began after a few moments,"isn't from here. Care to share a story with me traveler?" She snickered to herself at the end.

Serlen groaned. She was just as bad as Lewi when it came to persistence. He banished the thought instantly wishing not to dwell on the happenings of his own home.
"I'm from A continent to the east of here. And from the likes,the very Far East. I'm...the prince of a kingdom there." He said nonchantly, gazing at an ornate three pronged lance on the wall. He remained silent waiting for the inevitable apologies that most gave him.

"Tell me she isn't like the rest." He pleaded to himself. When he looked over he found her already making her way over to the forest.
"You sure don't act like a royal. I expected a snob." Shalla called over her shoulder.
Serlen nodded his head," I get that a lot,along with being far to kind and soft spoken for one of my stature." He said.

In no time he was already matching her pace," this necromancer.... Does he have a name?" He asked,squinting at a far off cave.
"....Fardar." Shalla replied. "Farther?" Serlen asked, he raised a curious eyebrow.
Shalla scowled to herself," no I said Far-dar." She said slowly.

Serlen covered his mouth doing his best not to laugh."his parents must he proud." He quipped.
The corners of his mouth twitched as though one comment would set him into fits of laughter.
Shalla however, was te first to burst into laughter.
"I don't think Necromancers are renown for their names,but power." She chortled.

Serlen shrugged and remained quiet,though one could see a smirk on his face of close enough.
The rest of the journey was uneventful as they came upon the cave Serlen saw earlier.
Even without Shalla's words he could feel the despair radiating from this place.

"Truly he must be powerful." Serlen thought. With a flick of his wrist he drew the blade that had served his ancestor well, and as such,served his entire family tree.
The blade was a gentle silver with small letters of the ancient language that only his continent knew. The hilt was a bright golden and embedded in the middle was a small blue gem with the design of a Dragon.

He looked over to see Shalla eyeing the blade with interest.
"Can't you use magick?" She asked.
He nodded. "Yes,but I prefer my blade more often than not. My magick....isn't the most trustworthy thing to count on." He smiled.

Shall nodded figuring he was more of a physical fighter.
"I followed Fardar to this cave a fortnight ago. I was lucky to be escape with all his cronies about." She whispered.

They were inside the cave now and as horrible as the cave looked, the smell was equally atrocious.
A crunch brought their attention to a few skeletons armed with axes.
Serlen glanced at Shalla who had her staff at the ready.
"Holy magick will bring to much attention with its light flashes,allow me." He insisted.
Not waiting for her response he pointed his hand at the undead duo.

A slight shimmer in the air, and then the sound of shattering could be heard albeit quietly.
"And you say it's horrible." Shalla. Remarked sarcastically.
"In my defense,Wind magick my is best area." He protested.

Shalla grabbed his hand remiscent of the way at the beau and began a slow sprint.
Oddly enough they encountered no more undead.
They reached a small cavern with light piercing through the ceiling.

"Kekeke. So I am introduced to children? First you kill my creations,and now you come to terrorize me." A raspy voice spoke.

Serlen stepped forward glaring through the dark where a lone hand with peeling flesh, rested.
"Show yourself Fardar. Your reign ends here." Shalla yelled.
Her response was more raspy laughter.

" looking for glory are we? Very well, I shall give you the death you seek. Perhaps I will allow you to live and watch as I raze your village turning your friends into my loyal puppets." Fardar said. A leg stepped into the light and finally glowing red eyes. Fardar walked into the light revealing a tattered purple cloak. His face was also nothing but rotten flesh revealing pieces of bones.

The ground shook and what came forth were Skeletons armed with pole arms.
" a test if you will." Fardar grinned revealing his decayed teeth.

The first to come was a heavily armored skeleton. It's first swipe was easily dodged before Serlens sword found itself in its rib age. The skeleton gave a hiss as smoke billowed forth from its bones. It let out a shriek before shattering into bone.

"Interesting. A blade that uses no holy magick." Fardar observed. His eyes flickered over to the youth in front of him.
" a blade forged by a goddess then. How detestable all generations of heroes are." He sneered.

The rest of the skeletons came,but were either felled by Serlens blade,or shalla's magick.
The necromancer let out a yell of rage as he fired off a blast of dark energy.
Shalla had recently finished off a skeleton and turned to see the searing dark flame heading in her direction.
Serlen tackled her and the two rolled to the side barely avoiding the ball that burnt through the cavern.

Fardar advanced,preparing another flame. He raised his hands slowly,but before he could release, Serlen launched his blade with the precision of a sniper.
The blade lodged itself in fardars stomach,and the loch tumbled to his knees howling.
"Burning... Sensation... What is THIS!? He shrieked.

" a final resting place." Serlen replied. He reached out grasping his blade,before plunging it into Fardars skull.
He let out a sigh feeling the events of the battle catching up to him.

"Thanks." Shalla said quietly. She came to his side looking equally worse for wear.
"I'm hoping there's no major event I'll be involved in on tho continent." He told her.
He sheathed his blade and faced the direction they came.

"Trust me, there's nothing going on so far. Everything is peaceful Serlen." Shalla laughed.

Serlen shook his head feeling a shiver run down his spine.
" somehow, I don't see that happening." He grumbled.

It was in the span of the next three days that Serlen decided it was time to move on.
"Your what?!" Shalla shouted. He covered his ears and gave her a sympathetic look.
"Look Verdani- I mean Shalla, I have to reach the empire to relay an important message." Serlen insisted.
Shalla glared at him with barely concealed rage,"Verdani? Who is that?" She demanded.

"A friend of mine. You two look stunningly similar that when I as you I actually believed it" Serlen remarked wryly.
Shalla gave a huge sigh before walking away. "If your going then so am I." She said smugly.
Serlen eyed her with amusement," sure come with me. Can't say you won't be regretting it." He chuckled.

By the next day they had already set off on the five day journey to Cleatia
"Get some rest, because this is going to be a long journey." Serlen sighed.
He had already taken the livery of setting up a all tent that they would both have to share.

"If you insist,prince." Shalla sighed dramatically,waving her hand in the air
Serlen quirked a smile before responding.
"Yeah..." He trailed off.

His gaze remained on the horizon where an empire sat.
"And so shall the meetings of Emperors begin." He thinks.

Silver was mid hunt when the perimeter alarm was tripped. The solemn moon hung full in the evening sky, bathing the mountain landscape in waves of luminescence. Her scales glistened in the twilight, and as her talons latched onto the unfortunate deer, her sensitive ears caught the shrill, silent shriek. Lucky for the deer, this sudden interruption made Silver flinch, and the deer frantically bounded off before she could give chase. Silver resisted the urge to roar at the stupid alarm. It wouldn't really help her newfound headache to yell at a machine. Still, it might make her feel better about losing her prey. If she gave chase now, she could still catch up to it... After all, her quarry was only a common deer, and she a dragon. It was probably just some terminally dumb rabbit that tripped the alarm. Silver almost feels sorry for the poor thing, considering what the other machines past the alarm are capable of doing. She's all but decided to resume the chase, when she remembers something her master said about the system some time ago, when he first bought it from Aliab...

------------
90 years ago...

"This is truly an ingenious use of magick," Vincent said to the young girl at his side, his voice rife with curiosity.

"Why's that, papa?" The girl asks.

Vincent smiled warmly at the girl's casual claim, despite how untrue it was, and gently patted her ears. She always liked that. "That might be a bit hard to explain my sweet, but I'll try. You see, this device is what's called an 'Amplifier'. While Amplifiers can be made to do many things, this one in particular uses a combination of Type 3 and 4 magick. Not enough to cause a reaction from the combining you see, but just enough to work. Each one of these emits a low intensity, invisible gravity field. Not enough to cause harm or noticeable effect mind you, but enough to sense something large passing by. If the Amplifier picks up a distortion in the field, it sends a telepathic warning to any who have imprinted their mama signature on it. And the best part is, only one signature can be imprinted at a time, and it can only be removed by the signature's original owner. So it makes the perfect alarm system. Heck, if you buy enough, you could probably ward an entire city."

-----------
Silver hadn't understood it then, but she does now. Only an animal of a large enough size could trip the system. It couldn't have been a rabbit. Silver shakes off her nostalgia, and her desire to hunt, though she vows vengeance against that damn deer. She takes flight, high into the trees, keeping as quiet as possible. She's only in the air for a few brief moments when she hears a bloodcurdling scream. Her blood chills. That... That was a human scream. Silver trades silence for speed, and rockets towards the general direction of the noise. It doesn't take her long to find the source, and it ain't pretty. Silver lands on the ground next to the now lifeless body, shifting into her human form as she does. Her scales morph into brown leather armor and pale white skin. Her twenty foot white wings sprout from the custom slits in her armor, though she quickly folds them to conserve space. Long silver hair spills down her back, falling to her waist. Her sky blue eyes show only the barest of pity, at least until she studies the body more closely.

Male, mid thirties, gruff and ugly as sin. A bandit or merc most likely, given his crude armor and weapons. The unfortunate lout obviously fell prey to one of master's more... Dangerous traps. Silver searches the body for any sign of how he ended up here. It's probably just a coincidence that he stumbled so close to the Hidden City, but she can't afford to risk it. Not when her master's life is at stake. He's practically helpless in his current state, so it's her job to protect him. She doesn't find anything at first, but after a meticulous search, she stumbles upon something in the man's pocket. A note, as it would seem. Silver carefully glances over it, and her eyes widen as she does so.

Elman's journal says the city should be near the center of the mountains, hidden by magick. Do whatever it takes to find the entrance. I don't bloody care what you have to do. Just determine if the journal is accurate, find the entrance, and report back. No stupid s***, and don't get greedy. Cause I'll know. Very soon now, Gorgath will be ours. So don't screw this up. All our dreams are at stake.

-Blackwood

Oh, crap... Surely this isn't the same Elman that master saved as a child, the one he told all those stories about Gorgath to... But if it is... Silver almost starts to panic, but she quickly calms herself. What should I do? I don't want to wake master but... They're just bandits, right? I can handle them myself.

Famous last words, some part of herself thinks.

"Hey boss, shouldn't we send out a search party?" A particularly tall bandit asked the particularly short one. "Don's been gone for o'er a day now. Don't ya think something went rotten?"

"Shut yer trap," the shorter bandit snaps, roughly kicking him in the knee. The taller bandit yelps and hops around on one leg like a Jackrabbit. "I'm the boss round here, ain't I?! And that means I don't need some thick headed lout trying to give me advice. I'll send out a team tomorrow."

Silver, from her perch high in a nearby tree, still can't believe her eyes. Or ears. Or her luck, for that matter. When she first started looking for the fools who dared to tread upon her home, she expected a trained, professional fighting force. In fact, she had even seriously considered hiring help. But these bandits are so pathetic they're almost comical! Silver could deal with these fools in her sleep.

She silently readies her Long Bow, notching a single silver arrow.

Silver's eyes widen as she notices the two humans. Both appear quite young, barely adults. The boy with the long blue hair seems to notice her, though given his squinting, she doubts he can actually see her. Which is just fine with her. She turns her attention back to her prey, when the newcomer suddenly yells and draws his sword. What?! Oh no no no no... That fool! What the hell is he thinking?!

The two bandits out in the open notice the commotion as well, and both draw their weapons; Blackwood unsheathes two gruesome short swords, while his bodyguard readies a giant battleaxe. Blackwood barks something at the tents scattered behind him, and immediately, a flood of bandits poor out, at least a dozen, maybe more. Damn! She could probably take them easily, but with these two children... She can't fight and protect them at the same time! Not in these close quarters!

Silver makes a split second decision and looses her blinding arrow at Blackwood's heart. The arrow hits it's intended target, burying the deadly point into the man's chest shaft deep. His eyes bulge and he stumbles, and the other bandits are momentarily distracted, searching for their leader's killer. Perfect. Silver takes the opportunity to leap from her tree, wings fully extended, her bow still drawn, the very picture of a goddess of war. She glides down to the two young ones, both of whom appear quite shocked by her appearance.

"We should probably use this chance to flee," Silver tells them. "There are more bandits on patrol, and once they hear the commotion, they'll come a running. I don't know about you two, but I don't like those odds."

Silver arches a single eyebrow at the youthful arrogance of the boy's tone. "You can either trust me, or die. Your choice."

She looks back over her shoulder, just in time to see the bandits recover from their confusion. There must be over thirty of the dastards now! ...And they're now pointing at her and shouting. "Yup, that's our cue! I hope you can keep up! I'm not going to slow down for you!"

With that, she folds her wings like a jet, and rockets back into the safety of the trees on foot, all the while silently cursing her bad luck. She'd be lucky if her master didn't blow a gasket and destroy the mountain entirely.

Despite her earlier words, she looks back over her shoulder again, and is a little surprised to see the two children keeping up just fine. More angry shouting can be heard now, as the mob of unwashed men give chase. Master is going to kill me.

She's so absorbed in her dilemma, that she runs smack dab into something very solid. The collision knocks her flat on her rear, and leaves her seeing stars. What the hell... Wait... A man?