AUTHOR'S NOTE

Before playing Ragnarok I've been playing text-based RPGs and I've always enjoyed writing fics. However, when I played Ragnarok I never thought that I could ever make a fic about it. But a long time before this I have been playing Counterstrike and as a treat to my clanmates and friends I decided to make a CT fan fic with all my clan mates as characters in it. I never did get to finish my Tom Clancy-ish attempt at my first novel, though. (Hate it when laziness stumbles in)

Now, just for the heck of it.. I thought what if I can make an RO fan fic with my guild mates also part of the cast of characters? Thus this fic came to creation.

LIGHT GONE ASTRAY was actually a guild, my own guild created just before WOE was launched. Due to personal reasons, I quit playing for a while and my guildmates joined the guild of some close friends of ours... the DARK DESCENDANTS. When, my passion for RO came back I found myself also joining DD and I've been here ever since. If you know the Dark Descendants members, you will probably see a few familiar names in the fic.

Now that's aside, here are some notes about the fic. Readers will discover it revolves around a specific character. But of course, this is my story after all so my characters will be in the limelight. /gg Hope that's not a problem and people will still enjoy the story because I've made it as RO-ish as I could. The character skills are slightly exaggerated in power perhaps to present it in good graphic detail. This may disturb some of those hard-core RO-aficionados who want to see the skills represented like they are in the game but THIS IS MY WORLD. And you cant do anything bout it Nya nya!

About the timeline, RO-wise, It would have to be before the introduction of the second jobs. And at this timeline, the king of Prontera was King Tristam the 1st.

I've long since quit playing RO when I got hacked but I kind of got some inspiration again to at least finish this fic.

Anyway, I sure do appreciate comments, suggestions and reactions. About typos and spelling, I haven't been able to proof-read this completely but I could say its readable anyway. Enjoy! :D

PROLOGUE: TENDER ORCHID

It was a night just like any other it would seem. But as in with all tragic stories, the perfect backdrop for a tragedy was the most serene of atmospheres. In this case, a calm but dark night was the only clue that fate was about to make a crossing. A man and a young girl run through the deep forest that was still part of Payon country. The man could hear the rustling of leaves growing stronger with every heartbeat. A look behind him only gives credence to what is inevitable – they are going to die.

"Daddy, I can't run anymore. I'm t-too tired." A voice pleads just behind him. The man looks at his daughter who for the past hour has been running behind him as fast as her skinny legs can. The fact that the firm grip he had on her arm were leaving red marks on her pale skin has not dampened his resolve to hold his daughter with all his might, as if the very shadows of the forest could snatch her from him. He was not exactly wrong in that idea…

No. She can't be tired. Not now. Not in this place.

"Daddy, please…"

He looks back again one more time. This time the rustling seems to have stopped and he decides to take a little rest-- but only for a few seconds. Death never waits for more than that. He looks at his young daughter, barely even eleven years old. Full of life. Too young for even the thought of death. He manages a smile to assuage her fears at least for the moment. He kneels down and strokes her cheek.

"You promise me that whatever happens, you will keep running. No matter what you see. No matter if y—if you cant see me anymore." He could barely look at her now.

"Daddy NO!"

"LISTEN TO ME! This is not the Payon forest that you've known. You run, hear me? Run as fast as you can. Do not look back. Please, darl—"

The inevitable started from the South, a low guttural roar that can never come from any man or beast. Twenty meters to the left of where the man and his daughter stood, a pack of Elder Willows scurried away. Even the feared monsters of the forest have fears of their own this night. For the man and his daughter, though, there was no escape. Ferdomear, retired Colonel of Prontera's council of knights and revered instructor of the Prontera's Cavalier Academy knew this from the bottom of his heart. But if he could only slow the monster down. Enough for his daughter to run. A few precious minutes. He drew his sword from the scabbard; it still shone with the same luster as if he was still young again. But many a year has gone by since he last drew the weapon out. He had many adventures with the sword. Its beauty pierced through the darkness like a beacon of hope in a surreal world of gnarled leaves and unfriendly shadows. He could almost remember riding his trusted Pecopeco to battle from the invaders from Morroc, defending his beloved city, the Jewel of Midgard from attack.

But those days were over. Those years were over. Now he was an old man, dull and gray, but to defend his daughter, he must be strong, pull from the courage he once had and protect his daughter from this being. He looks at the girl and motioned for her to hide in a small brush which she promptly obeyed. She was young but old enough never to argue with anyone holding a sword. Especially if it is her father.

Ferdomear took a combat stance and held his sword out in front of him with both hands. A long time ago, Ferdomear was feared for his speed and the lightness of his feet. Many strong knights could not keep up with his slashes with a technique mastered with an almost graceful footwork. Yet now the only work his legs could offer was to shiver.

"That… is a commendable… stance, old man." It sounded human enough. Ferdomear narrowed his eyes, trying to focus on a particular clearing in the forest where two yellow eyes were bobbing up and down. So the monster was walking like a human. It was no surprise. He has assumed that much.

"Do not come any nearer. Leave us be and my wrath will not come upon you." The retired knight replied, his eyes all business.

"Those are… strong words… old man. But strong words… has never stopped… my sword from… entering flesh. It will… not stop now." Ferdomear could see the figure now. An almost human silhouette moving slowly in the shadows. He could now see the sword, deadly and shining like his own. Yet it shown with a different aura, he knew. The only opposite of goodness… is evil.

"I… tire of this… conversation, old man. It is time… to meet eternity."

It was just too fast that he could swear he just saw the silhouette dissipate in front of his eyes, and yet it only took a quick side-step to his left and with that simple movement, Ferdomear knew that the monster also THOUGHT like a man. Upon facing his left he had to shift his stance and swing his right leg to his right side to add more leverage for his body to block an attack. A long time ago, Ferdomear used the same technique to gauge the footwork of an opponent. And that was exactly what the creature was doing. Extraordinary.

His right foot hit the ground as his sword met the monster's sword from above, stopping the attack but not without jolting his body with a powerful force that he lost his balance and almost lost hold of his sword.

"Sht!" the knight swore to himself and pivoted from his left foot in full circle in a graceful move to both catch his balance and swing his sword from behind to slash at his opponent as the monster goes through the follow-through motion of the initial attack. But

the monster has already finished with his follow-through motion and Ferdomear cursed again for underestimating his opponent's speed as his sword hit nothing but air.

The creature dashed once more to his left and Ferdomear had to pivot to chase him. That was when a plan hit the old knight. It was so simple it just might work. It was an old technique which he still taught to his young charges when faced against over-aggressive opponents. He needed to bait the monster and use the deadly Counter-attack skill for a critical hit to the head. He knew that his upper body strength still had speed or he could not have blocked the creature's unearthly initial attack. He had to give his all in one great strike. And with that resolve he dashed forward in an attempt to stab the silhouette when it stopped from its dash. The monster, unfazed, saw the attack coming as if it was in slow motion and dodged to his left. Ferdomear saw the movement and faced his body in that direction with a ¾ angle. In his brain there was the faint ray of hope that he could actually pull this off. His opponent was behaving like a rational, intelligent human being and THAT he could count on to initiate a victory. As his body adjusted with his movement, he shifted the sword in his right hand and held it back with his legs almost close together. It all looked as if the knight was about to give a powerful right-handed slash but in doing so exposed his left side completely, risking vulnerability for leverage.

The monster's yellow eyes squinted as hew saw his chance and moved in for the kill using two hands for an inward slash that would end the fight in the quickest way possible. That was when Ferdomear knew that victory was just a few seconds away. The monster had taken the bait. Few men realize that the fastest way to move away is to spread both legs apart when they were close together and that was just what Ferdomear did. In the monster's eyes, Ferdomear's image blurred to the left in a speed that may have rivaled his own. The retired knight saw the silhouette fly in front of him committed to a failed attack and Ferdomear used both hands on the sword and slashed down with all his might completing his version of a knight's Counter-Attack skill. The sword hissed through the air with blinding speed. He could not have done it any better in his prime. There was no way that Ferdomear would miss this attack and he offered a silent prayer as he waited for the impact of his weapon that would probably severe the monster's head.

"May Heaven have mercy on your soul, monst—AGchK!!" What could have been a fitting ending line for his attack was abruptly ceased when Ferdomear realized that he just couldn't breathe anymore. There was something wrong with his body but his brain could not determine what it was. It turned out that his eyes did, a few seconds later. A huge sword had penetrated his chest; the sharp end has in fact, jutted out of his backside. The battle had ended just as quickly as it begun. For a few seconds they both stood there. Hunter and prey immobilized and as if in peace, connected by a mystical steel weapon. And in the short time that Ferdomear still existed in this world, he realized that the monster had somehow "dodged" an un-evadable slash even while it was committed to a failed attack. For the first time in his life as a knight and in his teaching career, he had missed on a focused strike. And now it was also the last. The knight felt his legs grow weak one last time and fell to his knees, just as the monster retrieved the sword smoothly from his victim's body and walked away… back from where it came without so much as a look back.

For a short time, Ferdomear remained on the grassy floor looking peacefully at the starry sky. What was, a few minutes ago, an unfriendly forest, seemed to soften around him. His breath came in ragged gasps but he felt strangely serene. If death could do this, he wondered why so many did not want to die, even going as far as thinking if he should have done this a long time ago. But he knew the reason why…

"D-daddy?"

It was an angel's voice and he was already on his way. No, not yet. It wasnt heaven's angel, but his own. His daughter. Rahne.

Rahne crept to where her father lay immobile on the grassy floor. She saw his head turn to the sound of her voice. She fell in a heap beside him and father and daughter held hands for the last time.

"Rahne… is that my dearest Rahne…?"

"Daddy… oh, daddy…"

"Hush now child… be strong for me. My tender orchid. You have… always had… your mother's eyes. I see her in you. And now I know I can leave from this world because this old soldier has done… something right in his life. I only regret not seeing you grow to be a beautiful, young lady. My tender orchid… be… strong. I love you."

For her part, Rahne saw the only family she has ever known slip away into oblivion and there was not anything a young girl can do but cry. And in a night just like any other, fate has crossed into another road at the expense of tears from a tender orchid.