Short Stories of the Old Kingdom to Today
EyE rOt Productions
Story One:The Dragon Clan of Old
Chapter I:The Begining of the End
On Earth, Dragons are creatures of myth, used in fantasy and fairy tales, but in the land of Albion, Dragons were a very common creature (until the fall of the Old Kingdom), but Dragons were not the only common thing, they were also Cults and Clans that worshipped the mystical beast, and the Clan I will be speaking of today is the Dragonbreath Assassin Clan and their war with the Deathlicon, a Cult of demon worshiping Necromancers; and here is how it begins...
Somewhere in the Forests of Darkwood
"Welcome to the Chapel. You do not look familiar...have you visited the Chapel before?" the evil worshiper had a demonically deep voice, a voice that was very mellow and hypnotizing and if you listened to him speak for long enough, you would find yourself doing whatever it was that he wanted you to do. His name was Scoran, Scoran Daith, a master Necromancer among them, and no one questioned that, him, or his authority. The man he spoke to was named, or at least known as, Brother No-Guard. He was of the Dragonbreaths and had traveled for many weeks upon weeks to finally reach the legendary Chapel of which all the truly evil came to hail the Almighty Evil Himself, but now that he has arrived he knows that he has not completed his task, he feels an empty space right below where his heart would be if he had one...He knew what it was:he had brought no 'followers' to give as a 'gift' to the Almighty Evil One, and he did not have the Bow. The assassin had insantly thought of a plan..."No, I come from the Northern Wastes, and I was hoping that you would help me in something that I have been long anticipating for...".
"What is it that you ask for?" the Necromancer had a glowing, red tint in his eyes.
"Well, I have heard that if you sacrifice someone that is of most importance and Skorm would appreciate the offering, that you could recieve a gift in return, is this not true?"
"Yes, it is quite true, but it is not someone of importance, it is someone of virtue." the Necromancer had caught on to the assassins plan and was ready to cast a dreadful spell as soon as the man in the black hood even thought of moving towards him, thinking of tossing the Necromancer in the Sacrificial Fire was not a bright choice. The assassin spoke, "Why would a person of virtue come here? They may trust Avo, but they are not that stupid...".
"I know, that is what makes this Chapel special, only the brave and the wise come forth to it, so shouldn't you be leaving?" the Necromancer was proud of his sarcastic remark. He formed a small smile on the side of his crooked mouth. The assassin screamed back, "Listen, you old fart! I don't have time to be insulted by a man who does not even bear a sword, and is yet threatening one of Albions finest assassins!" The Necromancer did not like the sound of a person screaming unless they were experiencing death, he fixed the problem, "Vita exsisto profugus ut eternus dolor!", the assassin leaped back in fear, then leaped up in pain as the spell took its' horrid effects on the unfortunate; his veins began to burst, his eyes began to bulge out of his skull, his bones began to bend and twist into the most gruesom positions that it's amazing that the assassin still screamed instead of giving into the excrutiating pain that he dealt. Next, his neck began to spin to the point where in a mere few seconds, he was dead on the floor, his neck in a 360-degree turn; he was choking, drowning, on his own blood. The Necromancer thought it another days work and he had done a good job.
That was only the begining of the end. That one death would start a war between every Dragonbreath in Albion against the army of Necromancers, who was to be the victor? Only the Dragons and the Gods could decide.
In the Northern Wastes, North of Snowspire
"Please, sir, this is no time to become angry, this is a time of war, the Necromancers have finally caught on to our plan of getting Skorms Bow, and I am, sorry over the loss of your brother, but now that your brother has been killed by this 'Scoran', that gives us the right to call an Underground War."
"Who told you of my Brothers' death?"
"One of the Brothers that has has moved to the Southern Lands to join the Clans down there. He saw the murder, but did not want to get involved, but he did send a note up with a Trader that was moving goods up to Snowspire."
"And he is positive that it was this 'Scoran' character?"
"As positive as can be, sir." the Leader of the Dragonbreaths, Overseer Excessum, was enraged over the loss of Brother No-Guard, but his Apprentice was right this was, is, a time of war.
"I am traveling South to avenge my brothers death on this 'Scoran', I want you to watch the Clan for me, I trust you almost as much as I trusted my Brother, and that is sincere...Brother...", the fact that Excessum called Six-Fingers 'Brother' meant that he was replacing No-Guard with him, and that is a true honor.
"I will not let you down, sir; Brothers honor..." that was a risky thing to say, but it went over well...
"Good, I leave in the morrow, before sunrise...Good-bye, Brother Six-Fingers, I must leave now to prepare a boat for my departure, take care, and good luck with the others..."
"Sir, you need more good luck than I do, may it all be with you, and may the Dragons watch your back and set your enemies a-blaze in time of peril...Good-bye, Brother..." forgeting everything including weapons, cloths-other than the cloths on his back, money and even food the Overseer set off and headed South to prepare a boat, so that he may avenge his Brothers death, and carry Scorans' head home in a red-velvet bag, so that all may smell the stench of death, but not allow the world to see what the Overseer will do to the mans face when he is done...if he still has one...
Off the Northern Shore of Hook Coast
Finally, a shore was in sight. It has been a long two days out at sea and there hasn't been any sign of there ever being a shore other than the one he had left, not a rock out at sea, no shipwrecks, nothing, just endless miles of blue, until now.
The boat came slowly up to the dock, there, a one-eyed man with a black eye-patch greeted him in a low, mellow tone, already bearing the news of Brother No-Guards death."My sincierest apologies over the death of your Brother...I hope you find the bastard who did it.", the old one-eyed man continued on into a more casual conversation that would help lighten the mood, "I am Amplus Coron, no relation to Ekken, the famous artist; one of your Brothers from the North got word to me that you might be coming here, he gave me few details, but I know enough. Just so you know, your Brother mentioned in the note that you might want to look for some work, he said you left in such a hurry you didn't bring any money, or weapons, and he said that you are probably going to be hungry for the fact that you didn't bring any food on your trip; how long you been out there ,sonny? Well, actually, nevermind that. Would you like to come to the Tavern and get a beer? I'll pay, obviously, for your lack of money." the old man was apparently a fisherman, but a nice one at that; he had a very peculiar hat that was worn by most fisherman, he had long, dirty pants, and wore a short, denim-like jacket that went down to a little below his waist. Though, there was something odd about him, Excessum couldn't put his finger on it, so he stayed on his toes.
"Thank you for coming to greet me in my time of woe, but this is no time to drink, I must continue heading south, I must, and will, avenge my Brother." the Overseer, while on the boat-ride, thought a lot about his Brother and the history they shared, but mostly all he thought about was how he was going to kill Scoran. He wanted to see him suffer, he wanted to hear him scream for mercy, he wanted..."Actually, on second-thought, yes, let's go get a beer." the Overseer was tired, hungry and just wanted to relax; boats make him weary; he is definatley more of a walking person, but there is no other way to get across a sea, and as if he were going to swim.
"Oh, then come along this way, mate." the fisherman turned and began walking towards a large Oak building, the roof covered in snow, just like the ground, it's as if he'd never left Snowspire, Excessum followed. As they entered the Tavern everyone greeted them in a cheerful manner, men from around the room asked "Lookin' for a beer? On me!"; it was a party, there was dancing, and music, and prostitutes, and beer, and food, the Overseer did not want a party, he wanted a beer, an ice-cold beer to drown his thoughts away in the blind drunken-ness that he had now become.
There were so many bottles on the counter, and so many stacks of plates, he couldn't count them (but remember, he's so drunk if there were one bottle, or one plate, he'd at least think there were 5 or 6). He began to feel sick, he leaned over to his left and vomited, everything went silent.
"What in Skorms name do you think your doin' you imbacil? Bardus!" the man the Overseer had vomited on was a monster-of-a-man, and did not look, or sound, happy. He stood up, towering over Excessum, vomit dripping from his now green and yellow shirt, he grabbed Excessum by the throat and said, "Try and puke up on me again, boy! I don't tolerate this shit from new people in town, maybe had you lived here and I knew ya, we wouldn't be havin' a problem, but seein' as your new around here..." the giant lifted his right hand, clenched it into a fist, then screamed, screamed out in pain...The giant was on the ground bleeding, the fisherman had given him a hard stab to the back with a small eating knife that was on the table, but it went deep. The fisherman leaned down and pulled the knife out and thrust it in just as deep to the left of the first wound, he cried out in pain once more.
"Now, are we going to behave, or do I have to get you again, mate?" the fisherman removed the knife and got ready to thrust again.
"I'm OK, I swear, I'll leave the Tavern, just, Holy Avo, you psycho!" the giant stood and ran for the door, blood draining from his back.
"All you have to do is show'em that your more powerful, and all the big bullies will give in, you just gotta be stronger. They always think that their size matters...", everyone in the Tavern was staring...Amplus walked over to Excessum and asked, "Are you alright, mate?", the Overseer was dumbfounded, he had bruises on his neck from where the giant gripped him and squeezed from the pain when he got stabbed; he thought whether he was OK or not, then gave out to exhaustion, he fell to the floor, and lay there in a senseless heap. He was not OK.
Excessum tried to open his eyes, the light was so bright though, that he had no choice but to remain blind, he reeked of vomit, even he knew that; the night before was a blur, everything was a blur. Excessum heard a voice, "'Bout time you woke up, mate. You've been asleep almost half the day, we're about another good, ooohhh, I'd say another day, maybe day'n'half away from Knothole Glade shores...You feelin' OK, mate?" Excessum was weary and did not feel OK, but all the same he nodded and just said, "I'm just a little...exhausted, that's all...".
"Well, mate, don't worry, once we reach Knothole Glade you'll be doin' just fine; you ever been there?", Amplus seemed much more curious now than the night before. Excessum shook his head. "Aye, mate, it's a beautiful place, founded by woodcutters; ay, I haven't been there in years, not since me old daddy was eatin' by the Balverines in Witchwood...", Amplus became gloomy; Excessum finally got the strength to open his eyes, but he still lay flat on his back. Amplus continued, "Off that old subject, while your there, there's an old tattooist there, are you big on body-art?" Excessum shook his head, "Well mate, let me tell ya, it's painful, but when finished:beautiful, I've got a piece of artwork myself, a tattoo of a Dragon skeleton across my back, cost me a pretty penny too.". Excessum had had enough, "Please, Amplus, I am tired and weak, I do not wish to hear your stories, not now at least; please, I wish for another nap, so good-night...", then the Overseer quickly turned onto his side and then fell into another deep sleep and did not awaken until...
"Come on, you'd better not be dead in my boat, we've reached Witchwood, and we're earlier than expected." Amplus gave the Overseer a quick kick to the ribs, Excessum felt like vomiting, but had nothing in him to vomit. He slowly rose to his feet, stumbled, then caught himself on the side of the boat.
"Oh, come on now..." Excessum groaned.
"Come on, a couple 'friends' of mine should be meeting us here soon, let's get moving, we must get to Witchwood Stones." Amplus began to walk off into the thick wood; Excessum followed behind at a slow pace, his muscles ached and he felt light-headed. After a few minutes of walking and getting a breath of fresh air, the Overseer felt well again, or at least well enough.
Witchwood was a strange place. The trees taller than any Excessum had ever seen. Out of the wood came scratching, scuttling noises, like that of spiders and insects of unimaginable size. There was also always a mist amongst the ground that was so thick you could not see your feet, even if you kicked to try and blow it away, it would remain, silently snaking its' way across the ground. After a good hour of walking two things happend; first, Excessum had recovered his strength and felt well again, yet still him and Amplus did not speak while walking through the silent forest; and secondly, they had reached Witchwood Stones and there stood a group of Bandits.
"Hello! Sorry it took us so long, my friend here is feeling a little sick; he slept the entire boat-ride here." he tried to be as polite as possible, these were armed Bandits after all, but friends all the same.
"Al'ight, listen t'me. We 'ave something, or more, someone that we shouldn't 'ave." the Bandit turned and whispered something to another Bandit with a shaved head, that the Overseer couldn't quite hear; the Bandit turned and ran for the group of Bandits that was standing out by the trees circled around something that Excessum couldn't see. The Bandit still standing with Amplus and Excessum spoke again, "As I was sayin', we 'ave a very important guest with us today, and he has somethin' that can get you..." he pointed to Excessum, "to where-ever your tryin' t'get to a lot quicker than if you had to take a boat.", the other Bandit arrived and behind them stood a man in a white, hooded outfit. "Ah, there you are, did my friends teach you not to talk?", the man nodded, on his face he had many bruises and cuts and was bleeding in many spots, "Heh, good...".
Excessum spoke, "Who is this?". The Bandit looked at him and said, "This 'ere, is a Hero, you know, of the Heroes Guild...". Excessum had heard of the Guild, but knew little of it. The Bandit continued, "You see, Heroes have a thingy-ma-bobs called a Guild Seal, it allows them to teleport all across the land of Albion." The Bandit reached in a brown-leather bag that was slung over his shoulder, and out of it pulled a large, round object with a strange emblem on the front. "This is what it looks like, and it's yours.".
"Well, hand it over." Excessum held out his hand.
"You really think you're gonna get this for free!", the Bandit Leader laughed out loud, exposing the few amount of teeth he had, "This here is worth 2000 Gold Pieces mate! But seein' as me and Amplus 'ere are good friends, and your a friend of Amplus, 1500 and it's yours." the Bandit eyed Excessum, waiting for him to pull out his purse full of gold to make the trade official.
"I have no gold." Excessum grumbled angrily.
"Aye, but I do mate!" Amplus spoke out happily. He pulled out his purse and inside there was much more than 1500 Pieces. He sat down on the forest floor, pulled a handful of golden coins out of the bag, and began counting.
"Where'd you get all that!" Excessum was amazed to see a fisherman with so much money.
"Mate, I'm not just a fisherman, remember I told you we'd meet some of my 'friends'? Well, these Bandits are my friends, I'm a Pirate, mate. Well, I prefer to call myself a 'Protecter of Albion Borders', but Pirate will do...you see I 'check to make sure that ships that are carrying transport goods from other parts of the world don't have anything bad in'em like...Bandits, but I do it with my friends of course.", he looked over at the Bandit Leader and brought a nasty smile to his face, they both laughed.
"Are you counting?" Excessum asked.
"Ya, I'm on...actually I'm done.", he handed thne bag of gold to the Bandit Leader and stuffed the money he had kept into his pockets. The Bandit Leader spoke, "Well, it seems like enough, here you go mate.", he threw the Seal to Excessum. "Just hold it in your hands and focus on the name of the place you want to go...but just so you know...It doesn't go everywhere, it only goes to towns and cities with Cullis Gates; you'll get the hang of it." the Bandit Leader looked at Amplus and spoke again, "I'll see you later Amplus, maybe on a Trade Cog or somethin', eh?" the Bandit Leader grabbed the Hero, walked over to his group of Bandits, then they all wandered off into the thick woods of the forest.
"Now, come on, teleport me to Knothole Glade, you owe me anyway." Amplus was anxious. "Come on, do as Rector said, hold it in your hand and think of Knothole Glade. It should automatically take me with you.".
Excessum held out his hand with the Guild Seal in it and suddenly a blue light began circling around his feet, up his legs, around his waist, then up and around his torso, then his vision went blue. The next thing he saw was the gate to a town, then Amplus dashing for them, but not before turning and saying, "Mate, thanks for the lift, now think of the town of Oakvale, oh and here...buy yourself a sword or somethin'." Amplus ran back to Excessum and handed the Overseer a good 200 Pieces. He went back for the gates saying, "Remember, Oakvale!". He then went inside the gates.
Excessum then held out his hand with the Seal again and thought of the town of Oakvale. Again the blue light gathered at his feet and traveled up his body, his vision went blue then next thing he knew...