Pandilex
Game Creator / Administrator
Maneki Neko! (まねきねこ）
  
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Short story
« on: 01/30/03 at 04:23:57 » |
 Quote
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Deep in the forest, the sun was shining between the leaves of the trees. It was about midday, and Armas was following the trail to the next village. It had been a most boring day, he thought. This certainly wasn't like him. He was more the adventurous type, and this forest seemed full of everything but adventure. As he stepped over a fallen branch, there was a sound from ahead. He drew his sword, and shouted "Who's there?".
A moment passed, and there was no further disturbance. He waited a moment longer, and then sheathing his sword, and continued onwards.
"Sire, we must prepare! Our scouts believe that Zultran is summoning an army, and it will be attacking us in only a matter of weeks! What should your men do, your Majesty?", shouted the Commander as he rushed into the King's quarters.
"I feared this would happen... We have only one choice. We must seek out one who will go forth into the realm of death, and destroy the evil Zultran before he has a chance to attack with his army of undead. Get me my armour - the army will ride out tonight. We shall prepare to defend our land for as long as possible."
With that, the King rose up and followed the commander out of the room. They passed down the stairs, and walked across the courtyard. "Locate Asphen, and tell him to locate one who is suitable for the task of destroying the lord of the undead."
"As you wish, Your Majesty".
Armas stopped. Something felt wrong. He unsheathed his sword, and glanced around at the trees. All was silent. Not a bird, nor a even a squirrel sounded. Slowly, he crouched down and picked up a stone. He stood up, looked around, and took a step back. He tossed the stone forward. It bounced off the ground, and rolled along the path. Suddenly, a huge array of spikes, attached to what originally appeared to be an area of dense foliage, fell sideways, hitting the ground at deadly speed. Armas carefully walked around the trap, and continued up the trail.
Deep under the ground, Asphen sighed and looked up from his work.
"I'm afraid that I have been unable to locate one who is suitable for the task. I will continue for one more hour. I wish not to be disturbed until then. Now go".
The guard replied "As you wish.", and left the room. Asphen watched him leave, and then sat down. Lifting a mirror from his desk draw, he gazed into it. His aged features looked back at him. Hmm, he thought. He was getting old, and time certainly wasn't slowing down. He stroked his white beard, and waved his hand at the mirror. His image disappeared, and after a few seconds was replaced by the image of a forest. He continued to watch, and as he did, the image of the forest changed, revealing the image of a human. He had his sword drawn, and in front of him stood a giant.
"Stop muvin hooman" roared the giant. Armas looked up at the giant and replied "Stand aside, or I will be forced to destroy you".
"Huhuhuh. I cud kill yu in an instunt. Howevur, yu may still be of sum intrest. I will let yu pass if yu ask me wun questyun, to which I must get wrong. If I get the questyun right, then I will kill yu."
"Very well."
Armas sheathed his sword. He scratched his short, brown hair, and after a few seconds, he looked up at the giant.
"What has four legs out of the water, and when submerged has six?"
"Huhuhuhuh. That's eesy. It is a Miwerfish."
"Wrong!"
"Huhuhuh... Whut? Yu lie hooman"
"Nope, you've got the wrong answer. You must now stand aside and let me pass."
"Hrrr.... Yu is too good, hooman."
With that, the giant lumbered off into the forest.
"Hmm... Giants, always too stupid for their own good." Armas said to himself. Suddenly he heard a sound. Spinning round his looked up, to see a female elf drop out of the tree. Standing up, she walked towards him. She was smaller than Armas, and was wearing green clothes. He had to admit to himself that she was quite attractive. She had short brown hair, and green eyes like emeralds.
"So what is the answer to your riddle if it is not the fish the giant named?" she said to him
"To whom do I have the pleasure of addressing?" he replied.
"Forgive my curiosity. My name is Mylyn.
"Well, the answer you seek is that the answer is the creature doesn't exist. I made it up. The giant is too stupid for its own good, and thus it didn't think of asking me what the answer was."
"Oh, I see" she replied, trying to conceal her amusment. "I live near here with my tribe. I was walking through the forest, just... er... looking at the flowers, when I noticed you speaking to the giant." She blushed, and tried to cover her face with her hands.
"My name is Armas, and I was heading to the village of Nightmist".
She lowered her hands, and smiled. "Would you like me to accompany you to the village? I have never strayed outside of this forest. I suppose my elders would forbid it, but if you hurry, I could get back before they missed me."
"I warn you - Someone has already tried to kill me with a trap. I don't doubt that there will be more. Plus there may be more giants. I cannot offer you protection on the way back, because I will be staying the in the village for two nights."
"I can take care of myself thank you" she replied, her voice making the words sound not at all bold.
"I think it would be best if you remained here. I would hate to see some harm come of a pretty little elf like you."
Mylyn blushed again. "Okay, okay. I will stay at the tribe. My first chance of a little adventure, and I can't even go to the village."
She turned, folded her arms, and a look of defiance stole across her face.
"I'm sorry Mylyn. Maybe some other time?"
Asphen put the mirror on the table, stood up, and walked out of his study.
"Huh!"
"I really have to go now. I'll be back in a couple of days or so. Maybe I'll stop by your tribe."
"No!" she cried, spinning round. "You can't do that. My elders would punish me for talking to a human! Their tribe is well hidden in the forest. I have been bad to put my tribe in danger by telling you of its existence. I must go, before I say anything else I shouldn't!"
With that, Mylyn ran into the trees, and vanished.
"Send for him at once!" the King cried.
Armas continued to walk through the forest. It was hot day, and he estimated that it would take at least a couple more hours to reach the village. He walked for another twenty minutes, and stopped upon reaching a stream. Setting down his pack, he sat next to the stream. He reached into his pack, and drew out a flask. He filled it with water, and drank. Laying back in the sun, he began to feel drowsy. I'd better not go to sleep, he thought. I promised old Corin I'd deliver this book, so....
A sudden noise stopped him in mid-thought. A small rustle from some bushes nearby caused him to open one eye slowly. He strained his senses, but could see nothing. A skeleton appeared from the trees and began advancing towards him, with a sword in its hand. Armas jumped up in fright. "What foul creature is this?" he yelled, grabbing his sword. The undead minion was now upon him, and it swung its sword towards him. Armas blocked, and stepped backwards. The sight of the hideous monster put fear into his blood - it was an animated skeleton, with bits of flesh and clothes still attached to its vile body, the stench of which was sickening. Armas rasied his sword, and fought back. The skeleton tried to block his blows, but one went past its guard, causing the sword to crash into its leg. A splintering sound, caused by the leg snapping off was the last thing the skeleton heard, as Armas swung his sword into the neck of the fallen skeleton. With a final, sickening crunch, the evil skeleton lay decapitated on the forest floor. Armas picked up his pack, and continued along the trail, his sword in his hand. He wondered what the evil creature was, where it had come from. When he arrived at the village, he thought, he would warn the council.
The next hour and a half of his walk was uneventful, although Armas did keep a certain caution about him. He was about half a mile from the village, when he saw a figure up ahead. He jumped into a clump of bushes, and waited for the person to approch. As the figure came closer, he noticed that it was a young boy, maybe fifteen. As the boy went past, he jumped out. The boy jumped with fright, and backed off, drawing a sword that lay on his belt.
"Who are you!" shouted Armas.
"I'm a scout, sent by the King, to seek out a certain warrior."
"Warrior?"
"Yes. I was only told two things. He was somewhere in the forest, and that his name was... d**n.... I've forgotton. I think it began with an..."
"A?" he interupted
"Yes, thats it! But how did you know that?"
Lowering his sword, he walked towards the boy. "Armas. Pleased to meet you" he said.
Somewhere in the bowels of the earth, Zultran sat at his throne. Glaring into a mirror, his bright red eyes looked at the image of two figures. Unlike his uneartly minions, he was, in some respects, human. His eyes were red, and parts of his body bared no flesh, making him look as evil as he was. He clutched a staff of bone in one hand, and his other hand was skeletal. Following the death of his servant, he began to wonder if this warrior posed any threat to him. He raised his staff, and tapped it on the floor. Two undead skeletons entered the room. He pointed at the mirror, and they departed.
"Come in! Ahh, hello Armas. I trust you have brought the book which I requested?"
Armas walked to the table, followed by the scout. He undid his pack, and placed the worn book on the table.
"You may wish to know", he said, "that I was attcked by a creature in the forest which has only appeared in the darkest of my nightamres. It was a creature made of bone and rotting flesh, and it seeked to kill me."
"Yes, and undead skeleton. But how? The mighty Zultran could not have possible recovered his power quickly enough to be able to construct an army of undead!" he replied, exasperated.
"Undead?"
"It is for this that I have come to find you." said the scout, "The King has forseen an attack so huge and evil that the lands around us would be completely destroyed. The only way to prevent the inevitable attack, is to send someone into the realm of undeath, and destroy Zultran. This is where you come in."
"Me? How can I possibly be expected to destroy the evil Zultran?" said Armas, obviously shocked.
"It is the only chance we have. The location of his realm is completely unknown, but since you have located some skeletons in the forest, I suggest that you start there. Your quest beigins now. You are our only hope of success."
Mylyn screamed, and ran into the forest. Behind her, a skeleton pursued, with its sword drawn. "Help!" she screamed, running faster and faster, "Help me please!". She fell over a low branch, and the skeleton caught up. It stood over her, and brought the pommel of its sword down.
Armas drew his sword and raced through the forest. The scream must have come from around here, he thought. Cutting through the dense foliage, he continued to run. All of a sudden, he found himself falling. Everything went black.
"Look, he's coming round".
Armas opened his eyes, and looked straight into the face of an elf who was leaning over him. The elf was quite old, and looked as though he has a great wisdom about his person. Armas tried to sit up, but failed.
"You've had a nasty bump on the head. You won't be going anywhere soon. Which is just as well, becuase we would like to know what it is that you are doing in this forest. Kidnapping maybe?"
Armas replied "I am in this forest to try and find the source of evil which attacked me. I have been instructed by the King to kill one known as Zultran, lord of the undead."
The elf thought about this, and said "We have heard of no such threat in these forests. How do we know that this is not some kind of lie to protect you. Where is Mylyn? Where have you taken her?"
"Mylyn? Why, what's happened to her?"
"So, you know her do you? Just as well, since unless you tell us where you have taken her, we will be forced to keep you here."
"I have not taken her anywhere. The last time I saw her was just after my encounter with a giant. How long has she been gone?"
"We heard a scream about an hour ago. We sent some of our folk out to investigate, and that was when we realised that Mylyn was missing."
"I heard the scream too. I was running towards the noise when I must have fallen."
"You fell into one of out pit traps. We like to keep people away from our tribe. We have no reason to accept or ignore your story, so because we are a kind folk, we ask you to remain here with us until you recover, and then help us to try and find Mylyn."
The elf reached into his pocket, and brought out a small phial of purple liquid. Uncorking the stopper, he gave it to Armas. "Drink this, you'll feel a lot better."
Armas took the phial, and with some difficulty, drank the contents. He began to feel drowsy, and then fell asleep.
Armas awoke, and stood up. He was in a small hut, and there was no-one around. It looked like morning. That's strange, he thought, my head no longer hurts. He searched around for his sword, and finding nothing, stepped outside. He was in a clearing, somewhere in the forest. There were several houses built in a circle, with various buildings in the trees themselves. Elves bustled around doing various jobs, and there were several elves with bows in the trees.
Armas walked out into the centre of the clearing. Most of the elves stopped to watch him, with considerable awe. Armas had often met up with elves, normally outcasts from various tribes, but these elves seem to have never seen a human before. One of the elves stepped out of a hut, noticed what was happening, and walked up to Armas. "None of these elves have ever seen a human before. We have always taught them that all non-elf species bring nothing but trouble to the forest, and this is why we try to keep people out."
"Where is my sword?" Armas replied.
"We have taken your sword, to ensure that you do nothing to harm our folk."
Suddenly, there was a scream, and elves started running in all directions. The elf looked up, and to his horror saw a skeleton walking out of the bushes. Another skeleton followed. Armas yelled at him to run, and picked up a sturdy branch. Archers in the trees began to fire, but the arrows had very little effect upon the skeletons - the holes that were put into them by the arrows did nothing to slow them down. Armas yelled at the archers to stop firing, and they did so, watching him in terror as he ran towards the first skeleton. It swung its sword ,and Armas blocked it with the branch. He hit the skeleton with the branch, but it did nothing to it. Backing off, he searched frantically for something to stop them, but there was nothing. He continued to walk backwards, holding the branch in his hand. The skeleton attacked him again. This time, the branch was cut in half, and Armas discarded it. The skeleton raised its sword, and brought it down towards Armas. Armas dived to the side, and rolled along the grass. The second skeleton was now upon him, and raised its weapon. Suddenly, the skeleton froze, and Armas looked round. Behind him, there was an elf covered with jewelry and charms of all kinds. He was very old, and had both of his hands in the air. Armas scrambled up and backed away. He noticed the other skeleton was also frozen. The elf lowered his arms, and as he did, both skeletons dropped to the ground, lifeless. Armas ran up to the mage, and as he did so, the elf collapsed onto the floor.
The lord of the undead brought his hand down onto the table with a loud thump. "d**n those infernal wizards! This time, he would make sure that there were no more mistakes. He raised his staff, and began to chant. In front of him, smoke started to appear. The cloud got bigger, and bigger, then vanished, revealing a brutal looking monster. It had a huge horn in the centre of its forehead, and looked like it had the strength of ten men. In its hand was a huge double-handed axe.
"Go forth, foul demon, and destroy this Armas before he gets any closer to finding my domain. Let nothing stop you" Zultan told the creature.
The demon grunted, and walked out of the chamber.
The elves came out of their hiding places in the trees, and went to examine the skeltons. They decided it was best to make sure they were not going to back, and repeatedly hit them with various weapons, until there was nothing but fragments of bone left. Armas stood in one of the huts. "Will he be okay?" he asked. "He should be fine, its just taken it out of him" replied the young elf. "My name is Yola by the way"
"Armas" said Armas. She looked at him a little too long, and then turned to look at the young wizard laying on the bed. "Thats the first time he has ever performed magic that strong. Please excuse my uneasiness. I have... never met a human before, and I have always been told that they are evil.". She paused. "Is this true?"
Armas looked at the girl, and said "Many a time have humans been evil, and brought unhappiness, but many times humans have brought peace. I assure you that not everyone is bad. Some people are, and some people are not."
Yola thought about this, and then said "I'm sure he will be okay soon.", and left the hut.
Later that day, Armas had spoken to the elves, including the village elder. After careful consideration, the eldar decided that Armas was no threat, and thanked him for trying to protect his folk. Reaching under his bed, he pulled out Armas' sword and passed it to him.
"Thank you" said Armas, sheathing his sword. "I hope that I may assist you in finding Mylyn, since it would appear that my quest and her misfortune are related."
"I accept your help, and thank you once again for helping our tribe."
Zultran watched the skeleton talk as he peered into his mirror. "We have captured the elf girl Mylyn, master."
"Good. Now prepare for visitors. Armas and some of his elf friends are on the way. I have despatched one to destroy them, but Armas may arrive before it reaches him."
"Very well." replied the skeleton.
Armas hacked through the dense branches in his path, allowing him and the accompaning elves passage. After about an hour of walking, one of the elves stopped, and gave a yell, "Armas! Look here!". Armas turned and walked towards the elf, "What is it?".
The elf opened his hand, and in it was a small necklace with a single topaz bead on it. "This is Mylyn's necklace. It was given to her by a very old, powerful elf, who has since died. It is supposedly magical. She never takes it off. Something must be wrong."
Armas took the necklace, and put it in his pocket. "We should go onwards. The source of the great evil must be here somewhere." he told the elves. "Armas... We are afraid to go onwards. We are not a violent folk, and..."
"Fear not, I will go on alone. I will try and find Mylyn. Until then, you should remain at your tribe."
"Be careful. I must warn you though - do not travel east, for there are rumors of an evil witch who lives there."
"Very well. Until we meet again."
Armas walked off into the forest.
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