Chronicles of Creudence: Twilight Chapters, Exodus 1
Chapter 1
Introductions to an enemy or a friend?
For many, a knight is the apex of honor, truth and justice. They take their sword, their shield, and steed into battle, to defend their sworn masters and leaders at the very cost of their ignorant lives. To call a knight ignorant would be… a death sentence in the days of old, a death at the discretion of the knights that you so "foolishly" called ignorant. For they know no fault, only honor in their everyday callings. Yet for those that would actually know what intelligence consisted of, they would know that the knights are the ignorant and foolish ones.
A "true" knight indeed does actions that bring honor, however, not to themselves: only to their money grubbing and obese masters that feel fit to sit in their nice and safe castle rooms, stuffing their giant faces with nothing but the "finest of delicacies." The knights are nothing but puppets in a war game, being controlled by almost translucent, shimmering strings, made of nothing but the finest of silk bought by the masters that they serve oh so loyally. A knight knows no better than to follow orders, that is the very lives they chose to serve once they picked up the sword: to spill their blood over a muddy ground, already soaked with the blood of their comrades all while a dark and mildew sun beats over the battlefield holding it's head in shame at the stupidity at the earth's inhabitance.
Forgive me; for I have transgressed in my sayings, the definitions that I have just stated to you serve no purpose to a true knight, however, the definition holds true to overly hailed grunts and most masters. You are probably wondering than: what is a true knight? It's quite simple, yet complex in its making. A true knight is one that takes up his sword, his shield, and his steed to defend that which he swore to protect: his king, his kingdom, and his people. A knight does not blindly follow orders. No. A true knight would consider his master's orders a mere suggestion to what should be done in a battle situation. The true responsibility lies inside of the knight, the apex of intelligence and brevity. The knight would charge face first into the roaring, smoke filled atmosphere of a hold no prisoner's battle. Yet, a knight would be the first to order a retreat to the heavens and hope that his warriors hear his call. For a true knight listens to his head and contemplates the best course of action at any given time, he breaks the threads of control and holds the very light of intelligence that is lacked by most "great" heroes of the time.
'Son…' an overjoyed Kain said to his son, 'you are officially a knight of the Dragon Order... I could not be more proud of you…'
As a response the rather tall and slender boy of sixteen, laid his newly gained spear by his side and flipped his short smoky gray hair back with one hand and smiled at his father, 'Thanks father… I trained hard for this day, the day I finally hunt the BIG game!'
Kain, a rather tall man of 35, patted his son on the back of his leather brown vest and gave him a thumbs up, 'Indeed, the pinnacle of every young knight's career is to hunt a dragon and bring back its head as a trophy…'
The boy's father continued on with his explanation of what was to be done on this equivalent of coming to age for the boy. As his father explained that they were to go into the black-rimmed mountains high above his kingdom, the boy's violet eyes lit up with the hope only found in a youth. The mountains was the most dangerous region in the kingdom, full of sheer cliffs where if one was to fall, their fate was only to be impaled by the numerous jagged rocks found at the foot of the mountain. Some of these, in fact were already painted with old and dirty blood. Not only are these mountains dangerous to climb, but found at the apex of these natural beasts came the threat of the Grand Dragons, some the most dangerous and aggressive beasts in the whole realm. To kill one of these… would be a true leap of fame for the boy.
The boy was ready for to go, the tension with in is chest could kill him, and he had to release the pressure ASAP! The boy's father, feeling the boy's tension decided it was time to go. They started to climb the doomed looking mountains that watched over their kingdom. But did these mountains stop them? No. They climbed the mountains without a trace of fear within their hearts, only hope and excitement were painted on their faces, this was a once in a life time experience, something that could beat down the very ugly monster that fear produced.
It was only but an hour before the father and son team reached the top of the mountains. They were greeted by an undisturbed sun that poured heat upon them, in such a way as to glorify their expedition. Kain took note of this and told his son that today was to be a good day, one full of fruits. The boy nodded excitedly, feeling the adrenaline deep inside his body, and taking in the wind that cooled down his overheated body and blew his soft spiked hair in a direction seemingly unnatural.
The team searched the top of the mountains for what seemed like forever for the young boy. They searched in caves that would strike hesitation for normal beings just by the very sight of them, yet their search became something for naught. Kain scratched his long silver covered head, 'this is strange…there are absolutely no dragons here…'
Disturbed by the rather strange events, Kain turned to his son, who was still excitedly looking around for his big game that he longed to kill. He then looked up into the sky, the sun was no longer smiling rays of light upon them, it was returning to its ritual sleep in the west. The wind had stopped blowing, and an eerie silence attacked Kain's ears.
Kain could not understand what was going on, the dragons thrived up here, yet they were no where to be found… Just then was the sound that struck fear into every mortal beings soul, the low growling that was a scream into one's soul as they knew that they were about to breath the last bit of air they would ever have the joy of taking. Kain looked at his son and saw that the hope that danced around his face turned into a stone cold look of fear as he shook his finger at something that loomed over Kain.
Kain turned around and was greeted by the blood stained teeth gleaming at his face, longing for his flesh. Kain looked up at the long, terrifying black face of the beast and saw the look of death in the black eyes of the beast. What happened then could only be comprehended by those with stomachs of pure steel. Kain turned around and leaped at his boy and pushed him behind a giant pile of rock that loomed over the team as though they were judging their fate. The boy could only shake and whimper as he peeped behind the rocks and he saw his father leap at the dragon's scaly gold chest. However, he saw the dragon tense its muscles and saw its claw diving at his father… The world around the boy melted as the time seemed to slow down, he saw his father being hit by the giant claw of the beast, and at that moment blood exploded from his father's chest, the boy heard the snapping of his father's rib cage, every bone exploding into several pieces. He heard the ripping of his father's muscles in his abdomen all while his organs seem to jump out of his body. His father's body hit the ground with a sound of disgust that could only be heard by someone who was in the boy's frantic state. He saw the dragon leaning over his father, his translucent drool pouring out of his mouth and into the opening of his father's body. Kain reached his shaking hand toward the boy, tears pouring down his face, and with a voice barely understandable whispered, 'Jon…'
And like a flash of lightning Jon woke up with a sudden jolt and scream that came from deep within his person. Jon could feel nothing but the cold, dirty sweat that poured down his face. Jon put his hand slowly to his forehead, his whole body shaking from the experience. He looked around frantically, unable to obtain any visible recognition of his surroundings, unable to comprehend any of the sounds that penetrated his ears. He, trying to calm himself down, closed his bright violet colored eyes and took several deep, penetrating breaths. He counted to himself a sequence of numbers as he made his breaths in steps to help his mind focus so he could find out what was going one around him. Once he found himself calm enough to join back into the real world, he opened his eyes slowly. He could finally understand the shapes that he saw earlier, he was surrounded by lush green trees, however, they looked black at this time for the sky was pitch black, a sign that it was most likely still pretty late.
He looked down to his right to find the fire pit that he had built previous to his troubled sleep. The wood that had fed the fire was pitch black and was turned into a fine dust. The fire was gone and the only thing that came from the location was little pathetic gray wisps of smoke that periodically appeared from the pile of ash. Jon looked down at his crimson sleeping bag that he traveled with and noticed that it was drenched with sweat, wrinkled and dirty at the sides. He looked at the black dirt, which he decided to rest on, and noticed that it was pushed to the sides, a sign that he must have been rolling around in his sleep.
Jon fell back with a loud groan and laid on the ground, spreading his arms into a "T" fashion and revealing his strong looking upper body, Jon just couldn't sleep with any type of shirt; he felt that it restricted his body's breathing. Jon opened his eyes and stared up at the brilliant black sky, which was painted with billions of stars that seemed to blend in a huge, milky looking blob. This was the only sense of peace that he could find at that moment. These nightmares have become more and more frequent and he was now having them every night. And with every nightmare that he has, comes the sneaky enemy of exhaustion. Jon's body just wasn't well replenished these days, he couldn't get any real sleep, would you be able to if you saw your father being torn apart on a nightly basis?
This story, if you already had not guessed it, is about this very man. His name, Jon Creudence, a 23-year-old warrior, skilled in the ways of the spear and quite knowledgeable of all legends and myths that take up in his kingdom and of those that are based in far away lands. Jon was a wanderer; doing whatever job he can just to make it through the day with as little boredom as possible. He had no companions to travel with, no friends, and no loved ones. Yet, he didn't much care either way, he didn't much feel lonely, in fact, he loved being by himself, having to travel with someone would be a considerable bother he didn't have the time to take care of someone else. He enjoyed his freedom, he was free to do what ever he wanted, free to perfect his spear fighting, free to feel the wind in his face and the sun on his body.
By trade, Jon was a warrior with a high competency with a spear and knowledgeable of much hand to hand fighting styles. Jon is the type of person that if you found him wandering around in the hustle and bustle of your town, or on the lush green grasses of the country side and asked him "How was your day?" or "What's new in your life?" he'd stop and stare into your eyes, a stare that could not be comprehended by none except himself, a stare that seemed to penetrate your very soul. He would then smile and give you a good essay answer to your question, including many details which regular people wouldn't even bother telling a stranger. He would then quickly salute you with his heavily armored hands and then begin walking the other way with nothing but the wind to accompanying him. And that was if he didn't much like you.
Now if he did like you, he might sit you down, unzip his backpack and give you some food that he might have freshly hunted. He would talk to you for hours on end, answering your question and than some. He would tell you of all the brilliant people he had met the quiet towns he spent nights in and of the forests and mountains he had traversed. He wouldn't stop talking to you until you needed to take leave. He would then give you some treasure, some food and send you on your way with a nod and a laugh.
Jon was the kind of person to go out of his way to help those that are in need. If you were attacked by a pack or rampaging wolves or you were robbed by a group of bandits he would stop what ever he was doing and defend you with the very might of his soul. And God help you if you were a bandit. You would then see the side of him that had made him famous and noted by those that had the pleasure to be saved by him, a side that gave him the name of "The God" or "The Protector of Light." Let's say you were a bandit and you had the unfortunate chance to run into Jon. You would want to fight him, and as soon as you drew your weapon and took your first step, your time on this planet was numbered by two seconds. In the instant you took that step you would find yourself tasting and breathing in your own blood as there is a spear sticking through your chest. He would then have slowly pulled out the spear, letting you hear your ribs scraping against the deadly metal, letting you feel every once of flesh and muscle slowly peel off of the metal. He would then take the blood on the spear and wipe it under your nose so that the last thing you smelled was your blood and death and then the last thing you would see is the cold dead stare of his eyes that only appeared in a situation of inevitable death. And this would happen if he did like you. It would be a crime to mention what he would do if he didn't like you… he's good at what he does, let's just say that.
Jon continued to stare up into the starry night, feeling the chill of the wind that often came in a quiet night such as that. The only thing he noticed was the quiet bustling of the healthy looking leaves on the trees that stood in a circle around him. They were his protectors in the night; they stood over him like a mother would stand by her babe, giving a complete sense of protection. Jon then looked up at the horizon and saw little slivers of red and orange burning upon the field. It was becoming dawn, a time of day that Jon could not bear to miss. Every day he would get up and stand at the highest place he could find: a building, a tree, a hill, or even a mountain. And within the lands that were touched by the dominion of the graceful colors, he swore he could see a whole new world, one that sparkled within his eyes, one that contained colors and the simple complexity that he felt only he could possibly understand. If there were any place he was actually looking for, it would be that new world, the Twilight world as he called it.
Jon jumped to his feet, with the dust and dirt rising from his sudden discharge of energy into the ground. He strapped on his hand crafted greaves that contained his symbol of choice: a dragon, with two snakes one white and one black symbolizing hope and war. He put on his brown sleeveless duster, fastened his coat on to his belt and finished off with his similarly crafted cauldron, hand crafted to look like dragon claws. He didn't bother to brush his hair; it was so long that it would always seem to be messy every few minutes after it was done. The only thing he really did was actually wash his hair, with smoky gray hair, it was easy to pick out dirt from his natural hair, an embarrassment considered on his part.
He picked up an extremely long spear, nicknamed the Tyron, and brought it to his side. It held special value to him, it was his fathers, the only thing he found, besides his ring after the mysterious dragon attack. He stretched out his back and heard several pops as he began to lean backwards, sleeping on the ground was not exactly the most comfortable thing he had ever done in his life. After a good stretching and he jumped up into the tallest tree within his little sleeping ground and sat on the top branch with one leg stretched out and one knee hugged close to his body, mostly used to keep himself warm in the biting cold often found in this land. He stayed stead fast and slowly waited for the sunrise, and when it did… it brought a tear to Jon's eye. It was the most beautiful sight that he ever had the pleasure of seeing: colors beamed off of the morning dew that hugged the tree leaves, making the whole forest that lay before him sparkle in a sea of stars. The warmth from the sun kissed him in the face, giving him a sense of satisfaction and joy that can only be given through such warmth as had felt then. The flares of red and orange greeted the land in a way that proclaimed its dominion and superiority of the green grasses of this land. It was truly a new world to be found: the Twilight world.
With his morning obsession taken care of, he turned his head to the new land that he would be going into. He saw a gigantic castle near the horizon; closer to him was a nice small village where he could see the morning ritual of the farmers and children as they began to stir from their slumber. Closer still was but one little hut near the forest, it was raised up with a ladder seeming to be the only entrance into the house. It was a bit far from the main crowd of huts in the town; Jon just figured that it was someone who seemed to like quiet, someone who he could actually get along with.
Jon, deeming it times to leave his little haven, jumped down from the tree hitting the ground with a small thud. He began to walk down the hill towards the village in question. He was feeling low on supplies and figured that he could get some good food and restock on his necessities while there. He slowed down to notice the little slips of light that escaped through the canopy of the forest, it was awfully chilly due to the lack of sun, but it was nice and peaceful, everything he needs. The forest floor was mostly smooth, with the occasional root protruding in his path.
When he was near the bottom of the hill and the hut that was closest to his location was on the border of his sight. He heard the very familiar sound of running water to the right of his location. Feeling actually quite parched from his nightly event, he decided to take a look and fill his empty body with some sustenance. The river in question was located behind a thick grouping of bushes, which he easily pushed to the side. He stepped into a beautiful area where the sun shined strong, it was nice and warm and the water seemed to dance happily with the sun's rays. He looked around and found another being there beside him. It was a young man, not far off from his age; he wore a green hat that seemed quite lazy and leaned off to the side, and a green tunic. He sported some cream colored pants and some sturdy brown boots. He had blondish hair that stood perfectly still within this windless area, he had very long ears, which were quite different from his own. Although he expected this, this was a new land after all.
He revealed himself from behind the bushes and cautiously stepped into the small little meadow that surrounded the river, he didn't hear any noises; no birds chirping, only the rush of the river and two voices that came from the stranger's direction. Jon looked over at the stranger. It was awfully weird he only saw one person and that was the stranger, there was no evidence of a second person. He was certain that he heard two distinct voices, one deep and manish voice, which obviously came from the stranger, and one higher pitched, almost like a small girl voice. Unable to find out where the second voice was coming from, and overcome with thirst, Jon judged it as his own imagination. Jon began towards the river and almost immediately the voices went to a whisper, a sign that the stranger was aware of his presence.
Jon, now aware that he wasn't imagining the second voice propped up his ears and intently listened to the conversation that seemed to appear out of thin air. Jon bent down to the side of the crystal clear river, right next to the stranger and overheard some interesting parts of the conversation.
"Link stop worrying you idiot!" said the high-pitched voice, "He can't see me, none the less hear me! Don't be stupid!"
"I know but we need to stop talking… He might become suspicious," the blonde haired elf proclaimed.
Jon dipped his hands into the water and took a nice huge gulp, it was quite refreshing, and he could have sworn it was the best tasting water in the world. Jon looked over at the stranger, he didn't seem to notice that he was right next to him, his eyes were fixed onto the river, concentrating on the his lure. The stranger didn't look like he had anything to hide, but it was clear, he knew something that he didn't want Jon to know. Jon didn't think much of it; he didn't care much to get into anybody's business. It wasn't until Jon looked below the stranger that he knew something was up. Jon looked at the shadow of the man and hiding in this shadow was a little short, slightly plump creature. It had something rather large on its head and a large red eye with a yellow outline shown through. The only other little detail that could be seen were different little designs on the creature's body, other than that, the shadow hid most of the creature's features well.
Jon, a little concerned that the creature might be a little dangerous spoke to the stranger, "Sir, excuse me, but their seems to be something underneath you… a creature I would guess, do you know what it is, I have never seen one before."
And with these words the stranger stood up stiff, and there was a sudden stir in his shadow and the creature disappeared. The stranger gently put down his fishing pole and looked at the stranger; he smiled a smile that would point to a peaceful person. However, the stranger picked up his shield and drew his sword.
"Who the hell do you think you …"?
But before stranger could finish his sentence, Jon had already unearthed his spear and had it directed at the stranger's vulnerable throat.
"That sir… could be the very last thing you do."
The gentle air was now thick with the tension that seemed to rise from the two warriors bodies… the sun seemed to dull, the water calmed down… and now there was silence…
