Hello, everyone, I'm back! with something else! if you're someone who has read my other story you may or may not have wondered where I had been. The answer is storyboarding this! I got a little bored writing my other one which is just regurgitation with some newish elements I decided I wasn't really enjoying myself as much as I had been when I first started. I'll put up a new chapter of it sooner rather than later however. This one is pretty much brave frontier only, It takes place in the same universe as Summoned Roses however so that means same summoner and his experiences. This also gives me a chance to give him a little special something from Remnant, for those of you who have never heard of me before and have no idea what I'm talking about I'll explain later. I do hope you all enjoy this story if you have any questions don't be afraid to ask I always try to reply to a question using either messaging or ill answer it with the author's notes. Feedback, of course,e is always appreciated and of course, enjoy the story!
Chapter 1: Heros Fall
"Baylee… run… now…Hurry and get everyone out of here." The person who was imploring her to leave was her partner, her friend… everyone's hero, Dorian. He looked the part as well, golden blond hair that was almost too neat to be called bedhead but too messy to look like it was purposely done so. Kind blue eyes that showed an unstoppable determination. And of course, his ever-present ever confident smile. He was exactly the kind of man she looked up too and exactly the kind of man she would want to be with after this war was over.
The only problem now was that it seemed like they were not going to be able to see the end of it together, his eyes were dulled, the fight finally knocked out of him as he slumped over on the wall, cracks splaying around where he had slammed into it. His smile was also missing, in its place was a pained and accepting grimace, blood trickling from his mouth
"What are you doing standing there!? Kill him!" came a magically amplified woman's voice that echoed throughout the throne room. The voice was not directed at either of them but at the green haired man that was standing over Dorian, his sword already stabbing him in the chest. He panted heavily as he looked over his shoulder back at the throne, before shuddering and turning back to look at Dorian's face. For a moment longer, he hesitated as they stared at each other and faint purplish sparks arched along his neck wrist and ankles. Before he let out a pained breath and his finger twitched along the handle of his sword, as did so the weapon made a strange clicking and whirring noise and the hilt which was strangely tubular expanded and shifted underneath the blade so the holes at the end pointed towards Dorian. Once the hilt was done shifting what looked like the trigger from a crossbow popped out of the handle again and the green haired man unhesitatingly pulled the trigger. There was a bang as wind rushed out of the tubes the hilt made and the painfully clear rending sound of metal armor and snapping of breaking bones. The man pulled the blade out of Dorians now collapsed chest and he slumped over, dead beyond any measure of doubt. She stared at Dorian's unmoving body for a moment longer before his last words rushed back into her mind. She struggled to pull herself to her feet, using the wall she had also been thrown into to steady herself, she hazarded a glance at the man to see what he was doing and instantly her blood went cold, he was looking back at her with a twisted version of a smile on his face, as if he was taking great joy in his actions. If Dorian's last words hadn't been circling in her head she probably would have thrown her bow to the side and tried to fight him herself, as futile as it would have been. Dorian was their best sword fighter and his Divine sword put his strength on a whole other level, but the man before her matched that strength and skill, then surpassed it. With all those things in mind, she quickly grabbed her bow and ran out of the throne room as fast as possible.
"DO NOT LET HER ESCAPE, AND GET ME THAT BOW!" came another voice, this one male, and rugged sounding.
"You heard him. Go!" The female voice sounded off again, and instantly she heard the clicking and whirring of that mans weapon again. She dove through the throne room doors and kicked it shut right as another bang sounded from inside the room, the top half of the doors -where her head had been before she dove- were blown apart. She quickly scrambled to her feet and continued to run through the twisting hallways her and Dorian had gone through together barely ten minutes before.
It felt like hours but she finally burst out of the small keep and nearly ran face first into her other comrades who were busy wrapping up the perimeter, any enemy fighters were subdued knocked out or dead.
"Baylee what's the big deal!" said the dwarf -Carter- she had nearly bowled over. His war axe resting on his shoulder as he looked at her. "Where's Dorian?"
"We need to leave now." She said, glancing back at the door as she began to push him towards the main gate. The commotion she was causing drew the attention of the rest of her friend group who had joined her today. "Hey, Bay what's the problem? You and Dorian already took care of Valron right?"
"Stop talking! We need to leave now!" Baylee practically screamed at them all, drawing the attention of the regular soldiers who were walking around making sure the prisoners were all secured.
"Hey. Baylee stop acting weird and just tell us what the hell is wrong with you, we should be meeting up with Dorian anyway I don't know why you came out here alone." Said a human girl a few years younger than Baylee, her name was Bella she had long red hair that was pulled back into a ponytail and a very angular face, her green eyes were glaring at Baylee as she stood there with a hand on her hips twin longswords hanging off of them.
Baylee wanted to just scream, she couldn't deal with this right now they needed to leave. She opened her mouth but someone spoke over her.
"O' gods of chaos grant me flame so I may purify my foes in a pyre!" Came the shout from the keep doors. Everyone whirled in surprise right as the man they were here for, Valron thrust the long sword in his hand at them. Flames erupted from the tip in a stream, piercing through Nonil, a lizard man. Taken by surprise he could do no more than fall to the ground with a pained grunt his greatsword falling noisily next to him, a black scorch mark surrounding a sizable hole in his stomach was left from the piercing flame.
Valron stood triumphantly at the entrance to the keep. He wore red and gold armor all over his body but his face was not covered by a helmet, he had a rugged look to him and a large scar that went down half of his face and over one eye. His cruel gray eyes, however, stared down at them unblinkingly with nothing but contempt as he flourished his wings out behind him, they were jet black, letting everyone know which order of gods he was an angel to. He raised the blade in his right hand again and made to strike again, this time everyone moving out of the way of the strike. The dwarf Carter dragging Nonil out of the way.
As they recovered Bella let out a hoarse whisper. "Hey...isn't that Dorian's sword."
Baylee turned desperately to the elder elf standing in the very back of the group. "Kane Please get us out of here!"
Being the eldest of them all he seemed to grasp the situation far better than the others. "Meet me at the courtyard in the town, ill go gather everyone! Be quick!" he said as he sprinted off.
There was a massive wave of heat and everyone turned to see their last member Dwayne defending against another stream of fire with his large shield. "Its time to go!" he shouted as he began to make his way down the stairs, making sure no one was in line of sight for Valron to strike at.
"You really think I'll let you leave?" Valron said incredulously. He gripped the blade with two hands "O' gods of chaos ill unleash the potential to strike down even you!" as he finished intoning the sword shined brilliantly and Valron emitted a palpable pressure, his physical abilities skyrocketing. He dashed forward, moving insanely fast, in an instant he had covered half of the stairs and was in front of Dwayne. Dwayne couldn't even make a sound of surprise as the blade slammed into his shield, for as large and thick as the shield was it might as well have been made of paper because Valron sliced straight through it, leaving a deep gash in Dwayne's shoulder as blood sprayed.
Baylee stared in shock and pulled her bow off of her back as Dwayne dropped the shield in pain.
Valron made to attack again but before the strike landed a thin longsword pierce through a gap in the armor making Valron flinch backward. Bella instantly grabbed Dwayne and pushed him behind her before fluidly following up with another strike from her opposite arm. Valron was too fast, unfortunately, parrying the blade then swiftly striking out in a horizontal slash, the top halves of Bella's swords shattered and she screamed out as the blade tip bit into her cheek, sending her sprawling down the stairs.
Valron quickly rushed to finish her off but Baylee saw her chance. "O' gods of order grant me the power to restrain even you!" She intoned as she drew the bowstring back, her soul burned with power as an arrow of light appeared in her shining bow. She released the arrow right as Valron made to stab Bella, the bolt catching in right in the chest. He let out a surprised "Urk?!" as the arrow sent him flying into the stairs and pinning him there.
He let out a snarl and grabbed at the arrow with one hand attempting to break free of the arrow.
"Now's our chance! We need to get out of here!" Baylee shouted back to Carter who was still making his way down the stairs awkwardly with Nonil.
"I'm way ahead of you! We gotta get him some first aid." Carter shouted back
Bella climbed to her feet. "This is our chance to finish him! He can't move!" Bella shouted back, picking up Dwayne's dropped sword.
"Stop! We need to leave before he shows up!"
"Who are you talking about?! We can end this war right now"
Before Baylee could say anything more someone breathlessly shouted. "Thank the gods! You're all still alive!" Kane was limping badly but was moving as fast as he possibly could up the stairs towards them.
"Kane, what are you doing here? I thought you were getting everyone else?" Bella asked in confusion.
Kane shook his head and went over to grab Bella who spluttered in confusion as he dragged her roughly down to where Carter and Nonil were. Baylee and Dwayne quickly grouped near them.
Not giving them any time to ask questions Kane brought a Tanto knife out and intoned. "O' gods of order give me the ability to travel unimpeded by even you!"
The blade shined and the world around them distorted and began to turn black. The last thing they heard was Valron's enraged roar.
The color was restored to the world in a sudden rush. They had ended up in a lush green forest, it was quiet except for the panting and groaning of six people standing there.
"What...happened Kane." Baylee asked who was leaning against a tree.
"Someone transported to the marker in the town from the keep. He wiped out half of our men before we even realized he was there. Everyone else sacrificed themselves so I could get you all out of there..."
Baylee clenched her fists, that twisted smile flashing in her memories, Dorian's lifeless eyes.
"Did that person...have a strange sword with a hilt that moved? Did it make weird noises?"
Kane glanced up at her as he caught his breath. "Yea…"
"That's… that's the person who killed Dorian.
Everyone let out a sound of disbelief. "You mean they tricked you guys somehow right? Got you from behind…?" Bella said, her voice trembling.
"There's no way Dorian lost in a fair fight… He's taken on some of the best fighters and wizards at the same time." Dwayne said.
"He did...I was there watching, I couldn't even get close to them or help Dorian in any way…"
"You're really telling me there's nothing you could have done!" Bella said loudly, getting in Baylee's face. "You might as well have killed him yourself then!"
"You didn't see what they were like!" Baylee shouted right back. "That man took on the divine sword's trump card and beat him!"
In her anger all her other emotions came out, tears welled up in her eyes as she fell to her knees sobbing. "I couldn't help him... I've never felt so helpless before.."
"Oi...sorry to interrupt but we've got one who is badly wounded and one who is in critical condition." Carter spoke up for the first time in a while, as always, managing to keep a cool head in any situation.
Kane nodded and stood up with the support of Bella, groaning as he did so. "Carter is right, I had to get us out of there so I didn't really have a destination in mind but let's get back to the capitol.
Everyone nodded in agreement and Baylee stood, wiping her eyes.
"I won't forgive him…" she muttered to himself. "Ill definitely avenge him…"
"O' gods of order grant me the ability to travel unimpeded by even you!"
Tobias holstered his shotgun and sat down heavily against the side of a house as he vacantly watched Delilah's soldiers round up the rest of the warriors from earlier, either gathering them for a mass grave or turning them into prisoners of war. As he watched from the side the man from the castle suddenly flashed into his mind, making his stomach churn. He covered his face with his hands, guilt wracking his body. Faintly he could hear the sound of heels on cobblestone making their way towards him. He looked up and saw Delilah herself making her way over, a victorious smirk on her face. She was a succubus, that much at least was obvious from the purplish bat wings that sprouted from her back and the tail with a tip pointed like an arrow. Being a succubus she was of course extremely gorgeous, she had a round, almost innocent face with equally round light purple eyes that were framed with silver hair. Naturally, she also had a perfect hourglass shaped body, straight out of the dreams of men.
She wore very little armor, a form-fitting chest piece modified to go around her wings and chain leggings were all she had in terms of armor.
"Excellent work. I was impressed when you dealt with that cursed wraith when I first brought you here but you truly are something else.
"Thank you…" Tobias said and after a moment of hesitating. "Master…"
Delilah's smile grew even larger. "Good, you're learning." she leaned close and inspected him. "Not even a scratch on you...very useful." She murmured as she gave him a once over. "Well, just to be safe...head back to the keep and go see the nurse. I wouldn't want my pet getting ill."
Tobias kept silent as he rose to his feet, simply nodding his understanding and walked off.
Delilah watched him leave before turning her attention to the base of the steps where her king stood.
Her smile went from victorious to sultry as she made her way closer and closer. Once she was within earshot Valron spoke as gruffly as usual. "So that's the pet you mailed me about huh…"
"Yes. Now you see why I was so excited to message you that I had a breakthrough." Delilah said lowly, sidling up close to him.
Valron simply gave her a glare and continued to speak. "Well I have to say I'm impressed, we got results from everywhere today and even killed the biggest thorn in our sides. It seems to make you that Magical and Tactical general was a good call.
Delilah practically began to glow with joy at the praise from her lord.
"However," he said coldly. "I see it still doesn't listen as well as it should. See to it that it doesn't cause any more problems. If we had gotten the Divine Bow as well today this war would have been over."
"Yes, sir…" She said quietly.
Valron let out a snort and began walking towards a large purple crystal next to one of the buildings. "Since we dealt a serious blow here we should work on our next steps. I'll send some more men in the next few days as well as one of our own Divine weapon users. I trust you won't disappoint me in the weeks to come." With those as his last words Valron placed a hand on the crystal, after a moment it shined brightly and a light swallowed up Varlon, teleporting him away.
*One Week Earlier*
"Come on Tilith lets go… this is the third desolate world we have been too and this one isn't even interesting!"
"Oh come on! I'm sure if we teleport a few miles somewhere else we might find something!"
"You said that three times already, its been nothing but sand, sand, and more sand. It's starting to get into my socks. Besides...I know you're hot you could probably make a river with all that sweat."
"How rude! Goddesses like myself do not sweat!"
"..."
"...but...It is hot I suppose…So I guess we can go. Hey! Don't roll your eyes at me!"
Tobias let out a sigh then grinned at Tilith, who grinned right back.
"Let's hope the next world is populated...I would like to meet some new people!" Tilith said brightly.
"Yea that would be nice. I just hope there's no more sand."
"You're such a sourpuss sometimes." Tilith giggled and spun away from Tobias. Raising her hands over her head. "Gate!" In front of them, space warped and collapsed onto itself as a shining portal appeared rainbow lights pulsing from it. Tilith wrapped her arm around Tobias's and they stepped through the portal together, instantly they were whisked into the vortex.
"I wonder what this world will have in store for us," Tilith said as she looked up at Tobias.
"I'm kinda hoping we appear by some mountains...I wouldn't mind a good hike. What about you?"
"Hmm, probably a beach! We haven't been to the ocean in five worlds!"
"You always want to go to a beach…"
"Are you saying you don't like seeing me in a swimsuit?" Tilith said mischievously.
"I certainly don't dislike it…" Tobias muttered quietly. Before Tobias could give Tilith an answer she could actually hear an earsplitting crackling sound ripped through the vortex.
"What the!?" Tobias shouted as Tilith let out a scream, covering her ears. Seemingly coming from nowhere purple lightning arced straight for them striking them head-on.
Tobias and Tilith both let out shouts of pain as the lightning wrapped around them more and more.
Tobias grit his teeth and opened his eyes, the lightning making his limbs feel like lead as the tendrils of purple wrapped around them more and more. He glanced over at Tilith and saw that she was in an even worse predicament. Tobias used all his strength to move and grab Tiliths arm. Coming fast was a bright light, another world but more importantly, an escape from whatever this was. They finally traveled close enough to the light and Tobias acted, putting all his strength into it he practically threw Tilith into the light. A little dangerous, yes but the second she vanished and transported into the new world the tendrils redirected themselves back onto Tobias.
He shouted in agony as he slowly felt his consciousness fading, the last thing he saw before the world went black was something purple form on his wrist.