Adventurers of Legend
Once upon a time, long ago, people of many different races were separate and without purpose. Then the unthinkable has happened between it all; a dragon has made peace between races that shared the same alignments with the other. Then the people lived in peace and harmony, whether they were human or not. The kings and queens of each land and race had celebrated for their unity, respected the duties of one another, and kept on helping their peoples following their hearts to destiny. All races discovered three virtues that can help them all unify them together: Friendship, Courage, and Destiny.
Friendship: the unity of others, regardless of differences, and binding them all together in harmony.
Courage: the power of the heart, containing one's virtues and feelings, duty against all odds.
Destiny: the power of fate, finding one's future and hopes to change it all if something is wrong.
But the happiness was not to last very long, for in one night each of the kings got assassinated by a mysterious figure, seeks the power to rule the world.Legend has it that a team of extraordinary adventurers possessing powers far beyond understanding or imagination or belief will soon arise and save the world from a mysterious evil force...
Herein also contains the tale of a young man and his quest to find out if the legend was true and bring these extraordinary adventurers together…
Within an abandoned town of stone buildings, a seemingly typical yet large gang of human bandits claimed this place as home and their hideout. Their muscular yet corpulent leader rewarded his gang with a few handfuls of tosses to his men; he is balding, bearded, and has a blade scar over his right eyebrow and it goes across the bridge of his nose and ends right at his left cheek.
Then all of the sudden… a torch fell on a pile of mixed straw and hay creating quite a bonfire. As it caught on to the other flammable items of the town, the rogues noticed this sudden disturbance…
As a few of them went to put out the fires… they came out, flying back-first into solid stone buildings!
The gang's boss roared out, "What the hell is going on here?" A gang member with an eye-patch points toward the flames, "Something bad could be in there, boss!"
At first amongst the flames was a shadowy figure. From out of the fire stepped a young man. He's dressed in a white tunic along with a pair of black short pants that stretch halfway to his ankles. Around his head was a scarf of some blue fabric that masks over his entire head, leaving two blue eyes exposed.
He yawned, "Could you please party some other time? I'm trying to sleep."
A bandit snuck up from behind him and went to slice the young man's head off! The young man heard the rogue's footsteps and slams his hand against his opponent's throat! The rogue could barely breath from the blow he was given… he collapsed and went unconscious.
A few minutes later, from the distance the entire abandoned town owned by the bandits went up in explosive flames, along with most of those who claimed it theirs. The young man walks away from it, unscathed. His scarf loosened from the lower part of his face, revealing that it's devilishly handsome. Over his shoulder is a seemingly common cloth bag.
He sighs as he looked at the destruction he just caused before returning to his journey, "If money makes the world go around, than this should please the people who deserve this more than you do."
The next morning, the young man continued walking without anymore tire.
'I know whatever's left of them are after me,' he thought to himself, 'Just because I've taken a few of their own wondrous items, food, and other pieces of loot, and plan to give it all to the citizens of whatever town needs it, and blew up that deserted town doesn't mean I'm a total threat. Well I guess I should get this over with against those bandits.'
He stopped and called out, "Come on out, I know you've been following me for several hours. And also you're the same rogues that woke me from my nice nap with your stupid celebration."
Out from the bushes came one of them, obviously the one with the eye-patch is the new leader, he said to the young man, "I'm surprised that someone of such youth would have so much power." The young man asks, "What do you want from me? Your treasure, your food, or your other pieces of loot… or me?" The new leader says, "Well, all of the above… or your head on a Kwan Dao."
The young man asks, "Shall I take the honor of knowing if this bandit gang is called, if so, would you like to hear my name?" The new bandit boss replied, "We are Dragonfire Blooded." The young man gave him his name, "I'm Ryan Milroy. What is this hot-blooded rogue gang want with me? It wouldn't be because I've killed most of your gang and your old boss and you want revenge, would it?" The new boss of the Dragonfire Blooded hissed, "Yes it would, now give up your loot from our gang and your life and we might spare the young maiden over there."
Ryan looked over and looked in the direction the bandit boss was pointing. He saw the other gang members holding down on a female half-elf (and half-human) in an attractive getup.
Whoever she is, she is beyond good-looking and cuter than expect in Ryan's point of view. She was well-endowed with nice curves and lines. She has blonde hair that reached halfway down her back, which framed her pretty face. She is certainly not lacking in the breast department. As other half-elves, she's got skin that's paler, fairer, and smoother than any other humans, and has pointed elven ears.
As for what's she's dressed in; custom leather gloves and boot cuffs. She's dressed in a white silk blouse with short, flaring sleeves molded itself to her well-endowed torso. The black cape and thin, brown braided belt accentuated her slim waist and shapely hips. Going down her slender legs, she wore calf-length low-heeled leather boots.
Just by staring in her almost-captivating blue-green eyes, Ryan decided her life was the most important now. "Let her go, and I'll let you have what you want."
They released the girl… as the bandits went on the attack on him… Ryan smashed each of them with a few simple blows of his unarmed strike attacks; leaving the last one, the new boss of the Dragonfire Blooded, alive! The villain whimpered, "You're not human!" Ryan scoffed, "I know; I'm just half-human. But you're not human yourself, anymore!" then smashed the last rouge of the bandit gang's head to the ground most assuredly killing him!
Ryan looked at the young girl with concern, "Are you all right? Your face is so red." The half-elf girl was blushing, smitten by him at first sight. She smitten stutters to him, "Th-- th-- thank you, thank you so much!" He feels his face and remembered that his scarf fell off, revealing his huge mane and bangs of silvery hair.
As Ryan walked off, he said to her, "I'm heading off on a journey." The girl asks him, "Aren't you going to give me some cash, sir?" Ryan froze in motion, then turned to see her, "You know, people aren't going to like you for your greediness. Nothing personal."
The girl spoke up again, "That's not what I meant; those bandits stole my money from me." Ryan kneeled down to her, with his full bag in hand, pulling out another full one the same loaded size as the last one. She was amazed, "A Bag of Holding?" Ryan smiled, "Several Bags of Holding; I stole these from the Dragonfire Blooded so I can give their loot to those who deserve it the most: the people." She was amazed, "That's very generous of you."
Ryan sighs, "Would it be alright if you came along with me? I could use the extra company, and I hate being alone now." She thought it over quickly, "Okay, but you owe me 90 gold pieces." Ryan thought about it, then responded in a smile, "I'll go as far as 180 gold pieces to you."
The lady thinks to herself, 'Boy, this hybrid warrior is awfully nice as he is handsome. Still, I need to know more about him.' She spoke up to him, "Wait! There's a town down that road!" Ryan looks in the direction and saw the town, "Okay, I Ryan Milroy, will go to protect you. By the way, before we start our journey, what's your name, madam?"
"It's Sara. My name is Sara Okina."
As Ryan Milroy and Sara Okina entered town, the townsfolk looked extremely busy for some reason. Ryan asked, "Do you know anything about this place, Sara?" Sarah shrugs, "Just a little; this town, known as Akai Roma Prima, is really expensive for outsiders for some reason." Ryan smiled slightly, "Then in this town I should be careful with my money."
Sara asks Ryan, "How much do you have on you since you gave me 180 gold pieces?" Ryan gulps and clears his throat, "160 gold pieces, Bags of Holding containing the loot from the Dragonfire Blooded, and a few more Bags of Holding full of precious stones; some of which I hope have a good value––" Before he could continue on, Sara interrupted him abruptly, "Enough of that, let's go eat."
In a small restaurant, Ryan noticed that the prices there are excessively high to outsiders, but not to citizens of Akai Roma Prima. Ryan thought out loud, "Don't you think that these guys are trying to get enough cash to prepare for a war or something?" Sara answers, "These people insist that only outsiders with a lot of money to pay up or avoid their town. I don't live here but I'm willing to see what their food and wine tastes like." Ryan gulps, "Good luck; according to this menu, bottles of this town's finest wines cost at least 250 in gold." Sara slyly grins at him, "Just shut up and pay."
Half an hour later after eating, Sara was surprised that Ryan was just eating a lot boiled rice and water while she was having an exotic meal and fine wine. Ryan asks, "Out of curiosity, why do these people charge outsiders so much?" Sara just sits back in her chair, "Who cares?"
An elder in red robes with a curved wooden staff came by the two, "It's because the Dragonfire Blooded bandit gang owns our town, young ones." Ryan looks at him and asks, "The goon squad I just took care of last night and this morning? They were that bad to you? I think they were absolutely pathetic!" The entire townsfolk heard him say that in a moment's pause, causing such a plain of silence! One of the citizens said, "That's horrible!"
The elder in red asked Ryan, "You killed the entire army of blood-thirsty bandits known as the Dragonfire Blooded?" Ryan was confused, so he asked them "You don't see that as a good thing?" Another villager answers, "The Dragonfire Blooded charge us only take what they want, maybe 1000 gold pieces per adult and 500 gold pieces per child half-a-year... but now we don't know what will happen when they're all dead!"
Sara asks him, "From where you come from and whatever you do… are you always this popular?" "Pretty much. But it was different."
The elder asked Ryan, "Just where are you from, young man?" Ryan groans, places his elbows on the table he's sitting at with Sara, holds his head up with a free palm, and finally answers the old man, "My name is Ryan Milroy… and I am from the foreign country of Dracaena Monsruso." Sara was surprised, "WHAT? Why didn't you tell me you're a foreigner?" Ryan shot a death glare at his comrade, "You've got a problem with that?" She cowers in sight of that glare, "NOTHING AT ALL!" Ryan sat down, "Good."
Ryan returned to his conversation with the elder, "So, sir. Tell me about what made these dead goons so deadly," he paused a while, "Please?" The elder replied, "A red dragon." Ryan thought it over, "That makes a lot of sense; they would usually use a beast such as that to make sure they get what they want. With that 'government' they set up, you've forced yourselves to cowardly go into making things expensive for outsiders so that your citizens would be safe." The elder sighs, "That's pretty much it, lad."
Sara asks Ryan, "Did you kill the red dragon?" Ryan calmly replies, "No, I never knew them; if they still had one I'd tell you…" then he pauses for a while, "I think." Sara figures, "Without a master to be with, wouldn't this dragon be––" then she realized, "RUNNING WILD?" Ryan slowly places his head on the table, "That's a good point, Sara. But I never saw it when those partying thugs woke me from my sleep; so either it died and the bandits wanted the villagers think it's still alive, it was in human form because all dragons could shape-shift… or it, too, was asleep during that loud bandit party."
A horrible roar was heard in the background… Ryan groans, "Judging by that roar, I guess he found out someone blew up his beloved master along with that town of stone down the road, right when he woke up this afternoon."
The elder gasped, "Oh, dear! That was Ekishimura Town, the Village of the War Stones; the Dragonfire Blooded claimed that town as their own ten years ago while in search for the sacred War Stones, magical stones that possess the power of the souls of our peoples' warriors past!" Ryan skeptically looks at the elder and asks, "You're not making this up as you go along, are you?" The elderly man in red was silent. Ryan got up and started to head outside, Sara stopped him, "What are you doing?"
Plain and simply speaking, Ryan answers, "The dragon is in town." Wide-eyed, everyone of the town asks Ryan out loud, "ARE YOU CRAZY? YOU'LL BE BURNED ALIVE!"
Ryan still headed out, Sara sighed and followed the crazy traveler. Together, they stopped before the red dragon that once belonged to the Dragonfire Blooded. Ryan was just a little impressed by the creature, "How did they get a red dragon without getting killed?" No one else was around, but Sara, she just shrugged nervously.
The elder answered, "Their boss got it as an egg in a festival booth when he was a mere child, for at least 3 silver pieces." Sara's went wide, "Big egg." Ryan replied, "No, normal dragons grow very fast so it's apparent the hatchling was small enough to be held but it grew much too quickly. As well as caring for it lovingly… under chaotically evil terms, of course." Sara asks, "How would you know about dragons?"
Ryan grinned viciously and called out to the dragon, "HEY YOU! BIG FAT LOSER!" The dragon ignored him and continued on its rampage by smashing a nearby building with its tail! Sara scoffs, "I guess it didn't here you through all the chaos it's making." Ryan loses it and roars out, "Nobody ignores me and gets away with it like that!"
Suddenly, Ryan's eyes flashed with serious energies, a row of triangular prismatic silver scales formed down the back of his neck and spine, and his ears reshaped and moved to the top of his head like on the head of a wolf! Sara noticed this and stepped back! Ryan took a deep breath and spat a large glob of snow-white slime at the tail of the red dragon from his mouth! Suddenly the tail instantly became locked in a solid spiky block of ice, the tail then cracked off from its owner's body!
Ryan growled in satisfaction, "Just what I predicted." While in awe, Sara and the townspeople asked in unison, "WHAT ARE YOU?"
Ryan answered, "I'm half-human and half-wolf dragon." Sara gasped, "One of your parents was a wolf dragon?" A lot of the townsfolk were confused, "What're are wolf dragons?" Sara explained to the extent of her knowledge, "Wolf dragons are a neutral race of dragons with great power in many forms, wolf-like features, and freedom of their own will to choose their own paths."
The elder asked her, "Are they ice-breathers like your friend there, miss?" Sara said, "That was a Spit Weapon, not a Breath Weapon. Wolf dragons have a rare ability to project almost any force depending on their mood, if they can't make out what mood they're in it's as random as a Prismatic attack spell; higher level ones gain control over it. Any force as in attacking with a fire Breath Weapon, attacking with an cold Spit Weapon, etc."
Ryan growls, "Hello, people; big, red and scaly is coming while you were yammering your knowledge!" The red dragon heard the name it was called, and took it highly offensively at the medium-sized half-dragon man as it charged towards him, jaws opened wide!
Ryan concentrated as the fire-breathing beast's cavern within its jaws began to glow with flames from within. Sara screamed "RUN FOR IT!" Everyone who lived in the town and Sara did get out of the way! Ryan, however, leaped up and landed on top of the dragon's head!
"Breath Weapon Claw!" Ryan's prismatic fingernails extended into sharp claws and glowed a bright green… he aims for both of the huge dragon's eyes and swipes with both his hand claws once with fury, leaving a few green-colored claw marks down the eyes, narrowly missing the surface of the eyes! The red dragon attempts to shake him off and succeeds, sending him flying towards Ekishimura Town!
Watching in awe, the onlookers sighed. The elder in red was not surprised, as it always happened against a powerful red dragon, "There goes that half-dragon lad." Sara shakes her head, "I don't know; wolf dragons were also known for their great strength, tough constitution, high speed, and handsome or beautiful charm. So maybe he survived the crash."
FLASH! A massive glow of bright prismatic light filled the afternoon sky like a prismatic sun! The red dragon was the only one who became blinded by the sudden flash of light! Sara used her half-elf eyes to see what it is within that light… "It's Ryan! And he's got an orange-sized prismatic crystal sphere in his hand!" The elder exclaimed, "A genuine War Stone; that young man may have a chance against this dragon!"
Ryan sprouted huge partially silver bat-like dragon wings from his back and zoomed back towards Akai Roma Prima at a startling speed! "Breath Weapon Claw!" His claws glow an almost bright violet color! The red dragon heard Ryan coming at it with its keen senses, but Ryan flew way to fast for it to dodge! GASH! Ryan's violet claws bursted the head of the red dragon away from its neck, most assuredly killing it!
The dragon's head was blasted into the town's church! Sara's face became extremely paler than usual at the horrific sight of the destruction of an important structure to the town!
Later… Ryan handed the loot from the Dragonfire Blooded to the elder in red, and the War Stone, "You need this treasure; it's yours, the Dragonfire Blooded government over this town has come to a close. And… I'm sorry about your church." The townspeople look played in the mountain of money Ryan gave to them; it's more than enough to build a new church. The elder said, "Don't worry, we'll build a new church, your actions were done for the good of our people." Ryan wrapped his head and large mane of silvery hair in his scarf, exposing only his eyes, and bows to them in thanks "You're welcome."
A lovely 25-year-old human waitress with black hair blushes and asks, "Why are you here, Mr. Milroy?" Ryan answers, "I'm on a quest to find the Adventurers of Legend." Everyone gasped in surprise! "THE ADVENTURERS OF LEGEND?" they asked him. He calmly nods, "Yep. I believe they are real… or at least they're going to be. It's said whoever finds the Adventurers of Legend will save the world from the mysterious evil that seeks to rule the world. I believe I'm chosen to find them."
The elder asks him, "How old are you, lad? By both standards or human and half-dragon?" Ryan sighs, "By half-dragon standards since I'm half-wolf dragon… I'm a 17-year-old… in reality I'm 136 years old by human years." The elder smiles, "I believe that you have got the courage to go on such a ridiculous and perilous but remarkable and reasonable quest. I pray for your safety upon your journey."
Sara nervously asks, "Isn't there some kind of reward for slaying a red dragon?" Ryan closes his eyes and says, "Personally I'd rather get on with my quest and search for them." Sara assaults him and she accidentally tugs his scarf and tunic down! Suddenly, he becomes surrounded in a bright green and blue aura, then that aura shrinks down into his left shoulder!
Sara fixes his tunic and lifts his sleeve up his left arm to see what's his shoulder… it appears to be an emerald/sapphire-colored tattoo-like birthmark resembling a hunting knife with a curved dragon's claw and a wolf's fang decorating the sides of its hilt and a lightning-like face-like symbol representing the symbol of the warrior!
Sara and the other townsfolk were all aghast! The elder exclaimed in surprise, "That's one of the marks of the Adventurers of Legend; the Wolf-Dragon Warrior! You, Ryan Milroy, are one of them! Meaning the legend is true!" Sara pointed at the mark, "So that's why you're looking for them and how come you're lucky enough to kill that extremely powerful red dragon!"
Ryan noticed something on Sara, "Don't start thinking I'm a pervert, because I see something on your thigh and I want to make absolutely sure I'm guessing correctly."
Sara slowly lifts the short skirt, revealing a mark of a similar color to Ryan's; except this one is in the form of 6-pointed star within a circle within an empty vertical wide rectangular mark! Ryan asks, "Since when were you the Magical Card Wielder?" Sara's skirt slipped from her fingers and she asks, "What?" Ryan smirks, "Looks like I've already found another one of them." Sara looked at her mark, "I've had this since I was a baby; are you saying… I'm one of the Adventurers of Legend?"
Ryan says to her, "Must've been Garyuzen leading me to you." Sara asks, "Garyuzen? As in Father of the Wolf Dragons, the true neutral god of universal balance, He who helps His friends regardless of their alignment or race, He who sees into their souls to see if they're worthy of his friendship, He who brought forth the Legendary Three Virtues (Friendship, Courage, and Destiny)–– That Garyuzen?"
Ryan waved his hands to calm things down, "Please, don't make a fuss; I'm just a Garyuzen cleric. And I'm on my way to find the others." Sara asked, "How are you going to find the other 26? How would you know what this mysterious threat is?" then she noticed he's already leaving, "AND IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR MORE OF THEM TO SAVE THE WORLD, WHY ARE YOU LEAVING ME BEHIND?" Ryan looked back, "To see if you're willing to follow me. Besides; if you really are an Adventurer of Legend, why'd you leave me to try to be butchered by a gang of thugs and a dragon?"
The villagers of Akai Roma Prima angrily pleaded "Yes, tell us all why."
Feeling accused of being a wimp, Sara decided to turn tail and follow Ryan! "WAIT UP! I AM JUST A MEDIUM LEVEL (LEVEL 9) SORCERESS, TOO LOW LEVEL FOR A RED DRAGON OF THAT MAGNITUDE! I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW I WAS OF THAT VALUE!" Ryan just boisterously laughed as he ran of on his quest, with Sara in tow!
(Author's question: how many experience points do you think they deserve? What should I name this story?)