Chapter One: The End of A Golden Age
The human awoke to the sound of steel boots trampling down the stone hallway leading to his room, followed by the draw of blades and clash of sword on sword. The fourty-nine other Riders housed in the same wing of the fort were still asleep, apperently undisturbed by the noise. He drew his sword and was met by a young elf, a Rider like him, on his way out, who proceeded to swipe at him with his blade.
The human barely got his blade up in time to block the strike, sloppily parrying the elf's blade, his sword flying far to the left, too far to block the next strike, and cried out in agony as black brightsteel bit into the flesh of his right shoulder. Spinning around, the elf drove the pommel of his sword at the human's left temple, but he got his blade up in time to deflect it, stopping would have been a fatal blow and throwing to elf off balance. Seeing his chance, the human struck out at the elf's chest, but was stopped by his wards. The elf despirately yelled a few words in the ancient language, throwing the human into the wall behind him and knocking the wind out of him. As he slid to the floor, losing conciousness, his dragon screaming at him in his head, the world, like his pain, faded into nothingness, his vision going black, his body numb.
Alrik awoke in the infirmary of the fortress, Fort Abr Aiedail, his black hair sticking up in all different directions. His head felt as if it had been smashed to pieces by a hammer and pieced back together, and he felt as if every bone in his body was broken. He remembered what happened and decided that it was most likely they were. He struggled to his feet, scanning the room with his sapphire eyes, and saw an elf standing by the doorway. She looked farmiliar, but Alrik couldn't put a name to the face. The elf saw him standing and walked over to him.
"You're awake," she said, sounding somewhat surprised, and mildly impressed. "We didn't expect you to awaken this soon, if ever. After a blow like the one that knocked you unconcious, most would have died within a day, if not on the spot"
"How long-?" he begain, but the elf cut him off.
"Almost a week. Follow me. We must sit down. There is much you need to know," with that, the elf turned on her heel and walked toward the door she had entered from.
"Wait!" he shouted, running to keep up with her long strides. "Who are you?"
"I," she said, somewhat indignantly,"am Arya Shadeslayer. Now, we must be going. Much has happened while you were unconcious."
Sorry the chapter is short, but I couldn't think of anything else that really fits here. If you have any tips, corrections, or comments, I appreciate any constructive criticism. The keyword there is CONSTRUCTIVE. Don't just say it sucked. I'll get Chapter 2 up when I can, but school has a way of getting in the way of such things.