Welcome everyone. Thought I'd give you all a story from Gard's youth, before the animals and Mumm-Ra came to Third Earth. Enjoy.
Young, scarred, half-blind… Yes, that's what he was! Gard continued to march with the warriors from Wilusa. He was a foolhardy boy of sixteen! He never should have left the tablelands but he had, a glory-obsessed boy seeking to escape the company of his clansmen. His grandfather growing discontent in his old age and wishing for one last battle, his brother Procyon still seeking for ways to hide his bloodlust curse… He had to find a way out of the tablelands and he had.
March, march, march… This would have been so much easier with mounts! That drink… A mixture of vinegar and zeuster milk… He did not like it. It was one of those acquired tastes!
Finally, they reached their destination! The eastern lands where no Evabon dared set foot… Here was where the Labinnacs dwelt!
The leader of the warriors, a sixty-year old brown skinned man named Konn, climbed onto a nearby boulder and pointed across the vast woodland before them.
"We have reached our destination!" Konn's voice rang out. "Today, we spill the blood of those who dare to raid our lands!" All of the warriors raised their weapons and cheered. Gard was completely caught up in it!
When all was done, only a few still lived and had been sent fleeing with those demons pursuing them in various directions! Konn was dead, a spear thrust through his heart!
Bleeding, Gard continued to flee. He had killed one of his pursuers with a log and crippled another with a well-thrown boulder. That crippled pursuer was now dead for the labinnacs eat their wounded.
He knew not how long he fled it had seemed like forever. How long had it been night? Where had the day gone?
Turning to see if the labinnacs were still pursuing, Gard saw them in the distance but they were still coming for him. There was no escaping these monsters!
And then he saw it! A crypt made in the Evabon architecture… So there had been Evabon here once… At last sanctuary!
Running into the open doors of the tomb, Gard quickly ran for the burial chamber. Surely, the spirit of the Evabon buried here would protect him!
The burial chamber had a stylized statue in the middle of it. With no sign of sarcophagus or shrouded corpse, Gard came to the conclusion that the ashes of the deceased were hidden in the burial chamber somewhere.
A short while he looked at the statue. Ultimately, he came to the conclusion that this Evabon had either been a worshipper of the Storm Spirit from the amount of thunderbolts on the statue or a highly honored exile.
An axe caught his eye. Great and terrible! Taking it up, Gard smiled at the ragged blade. A great warrior, defender of people, a hero, a man of glory!
Glory… It was that foolish thing that had brought him far from the tablelands, his home… Glory was something he wanted no part in. Not any more. He had seen too much death because of it.
And then a sound came to Gard's ears. Gripping the axe, Gard saw a knucker, a brown knucker, a symbol of courage in Evabon lore. The two stared at each other: the knucker baring its fangs, Gard gripping the axe.
With a hiss, the knucker departed the tomb. Soon after, the labinnac's entered. There were six of them and Gard was alone.
Gripping his axe, Gard smiled. He had the knucker's courage and the strength of a mighty warrior with him. He would emerge victorious! He would return to the tablelands! He would not be killed!
The End
