Earth Eternal: Brotherhood of Blood
Chapter 1: Fall of a Legend
It has been 3067 years since mankind has destroyed itself. It is another beautiful day in the town of Camelot. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and the creatures are all peacefully guarding their territory. The King's two most valuable guards patrol the West gate, a large golden furred fox man, better known as foxen and one of the greatest knights in the history of the world, Lance Westbrook, and his partner, a fair furred, hot-headed rabbit girl, commonly referred to as bounders and a mage prodigy since the age of three, Alanis Dawne. Their patrol shift started only a half an hour ago, and it had already taken its toll on Alanis.
She speaks in a heavy Irish accent "How much longer is this goin' to be?"
Lance responds "I told you, our shift lasts until sundown, what's the matter with you anyway?"
"I ne'er see any action! It's always the same thing every day! We walk left and right and we ne'er get any form of excitement!" Shouts Alanis, quite angrily.
"I'd rather be bored than be fighting for my life" Says Lance as he looks outside of the gate with his arms crossed
"Bah! What do you care? You're Lance Westbrook, 'Gaia's Swordsman' you could easily slice through any lassies that get in our way" responds Alanis.
"Heh, is that what they call me now?" Says Lance with a smirk.
"Quit your braggin' lad, if you weren't such a good friend, I'd roast you right now" Alanis says back.
Hours later the sun finally sets, Lance and Alanis were getting ready to pack up their things and head into Castle Pendragon to receive their payment.
"Thank Gaia, finally" says Alanis "I'm sweatin' up a storm in this heat!"
Just then, a young cat man, or feline comes running into the west gate shouting "Sir! Sir Lance!"
"What? What is it!" Asks Lance
The feline is out of breath from his mad dash, he manages to say "The Knights of Avalon are heading our way; they're waving their war flags!"
Lance's eyes light up and his ears prick upward "We're being invaded! Sound the alarm!" he shouts
Alanis Picks up the war horn and blows a powerful tune, telling all civilians to go indoors, and all soldiers to prepare for battle.
The tune from the war horn erupts throughout the entire town. Store clerks, and carpenters all head inside their houses and inn keepers all close down until the battle blows over. King Arthur is sitting on his throne with his wife Queen Guinevere. Sir Kay bursts in and says.
"Your majesty, the Knights of Avalon are attacking from the west gate, your orders?"
The King holds his head up with his hand and calmly says "I give all command to Sir Lance and Sergeant Dawne"
"…Yes my liege" responds Sir Kay, unsure that the king should be giving all of his command to a knight and a sergeant.
Queen Guinevere steps up and says "Arthur, I think you rely too much on Lance, he's just one beast and…"
Arthur Interrupts "Lance Westbrook, 'Gaia's Swordsman' is by far the greatest knight in my entire army, maybe the greatest knight of the Round Table. I'm sure he'll be able to handle the situation just fine"
The Queen sits back down and says with uncertainty in her voice "If you say so my love…"
Lance is waiting outside for the troops and King Arthur to show up. Alanis shouts "Finally! I've been wantin' to get me paws dirty! Those Wimps of Avalon may just piss themselves once they see my fireball headin' their way!"
Alanis prepares her shot; Lance grabs her arm quickly and says "Wait until the soldiers get here!" in an agitated voice.
"Hmf! You're no fun…" responds Alanis.
Sir Kay arrives to the west gate with a legion of troops "Sir Lance! The king says he gives all his command to you and Sergeant Dawne" Says Kay
"That old bastard relies way too much on us, Get our best archers! Don't let any of them past the gate!" orders Lance.
Sir Kay runs to gather Camelot's finest archers. Lance thinks to himself "That fool's getting way too cocky; he's going to get me killed one of these days"
Dozens of rows of archers present themselves to Lance. Lance asks "Is that all?"
Sir Kay responds "These are the best archers I could find in Camelot sir, are there not enough?"
Lance smiles and says "No, you did a fine job Sir Kay"
Lance looks in his spying glass over the hill and sees hundreds of Avalonian Knights marching their way to Camelot. Lance says to himself "Yeah, just keep marching, it'll be the last march of your pathetic lives"
The Knights of Avalon make their way into the archer's line of sight. Lance raises his left paw; the archers all get their bows ready. They aim high and at an angle. There were enough of them to block out the sun. The Avalonians step closer to Camelot. Alanis gets her knife and talisman ready for battle. Lance points his finger forward, and the archers let their arrows fly.
From the Avalonians' point of view, it looked like a massive black wave coming down on them. The arrows rained down on them like giant hornets. Hundreds of them were dropping from the counter attack. Lance raises his family heirloom bastard sword high in the air.
Lance yells "Chaaaaaaaaaarge!" and leads the counter forward
One of the survivors says "Is that… Lance Westbrook!"
The others hear this and react
"Gaia's Swordsman!" "We're doomed! It's Gaia's Swordsman!" "We can't win! Let's get out of here!" "You stay right here you coward, just keep pushing!"
Arthur's Forces and the Knights of Avalon collide in a savage frenzy of violence. The sound of steel clashing against steel can be heard for miles. Lance spins himself around in a 360 degree motion with his sword out in front of him, slicing anyone around him perfectly in two, a move called, "The Blender." Alanis slices and stabs anyone in her way with her knife. She sticks her hand out forwards and a massive blast of icy cold air comes out, freezing anyone in front of her into ice statues. She then throws a fireball in the middle of them, shattering the icy statues to pieces. An ursine or bear person holding his war hammer in the air was about to bludgeon Alanis to death when Lance's sword pierced his chest.
"Thanks lad, I owe you one!" Says Alanis
Lance and Alanis head back into the fray without saying anything. The Knights of Avalon were diminishing in numbers.
Their leader started scuttling away shouting "Retreat! Retreeeeeeat!"
The Knights of Avalon ran away from the carnage, many of them dead, some of them wounded. Arthur's men cheered for what appeared to be a victory until Lance realized something
"Wait… the north entrance! Nobody's guarding the north entrance!"
He and Alanis ran back to the north entrance to find five Avalonians running to the King's throne
Alanis asks "Are we goin' after 'em?"
Lance responds "You're damn right we are, nobody sneaks into my town while I'm on guard!"
Lance and Alanis run up to the king's throne, they burst through the door and find Arthur slowly drawing his sword and Guinevere with her back to the corner. Alanis shoots fire at one of them in the back. Lance leaps in and cleaves another one halfway down the middle. King Arthur slices one of their chests open and decapitates another one, all in one motion. The last one left was about to split the king in half from behind with a great battle axe.
"Your majesty, Look out!" shouts Lance as he dives to push the King out of the way
He was not quick enough however. The Axe comes down and chops Lance's Arm right off. Lance lets out a bloodcurdling scream as he grips his wound. Alanis slices the attacker's neck open with her knife.
Lance is still screaming in pain and bleeding out fast, Queen Guinevere gets some cloth to wrap around his wound that will hopefully stop the bleeding until it can be treated.
King Arthur shouts "We have to get him to the infirmary, NOW!"
Arthur and Alanis pick Lance up to the infirmary; Lance is still tightly clutching his wound, screaming in agony. It was a terrible sound that everyone who heard it wants to forget. In the infirmary, the doctors were ready to let Arthur and Alanis in to see Lance. His fur looked pale from the massive loss of blood, his eyes were not open all the way, and his breathing was heavy and audible. King Arthur was in an absolute shock to see his best knight in such a condition. Alanis was mourning what could be the loss of her only friend; Lance meant a lot to her in that respect.
Arthur snaps out of his shock and says "Lance, this is all my fault, if I knew they were to attack from both entrances, I wouldn't have given my command solely to you"
Alanis adds "Lance, please, don't die on me. You're the only lad I have around here" She looked like she was ready to burst into tears
Lance says in a weak voice "Your majesty, this was a small price to pay to keep you alive. Now that it's done, I will have to resign my position in the Knights of the Round Table, and retire"
Arthur was stunned to hear such a thing come from "Gaia's Swordsman"
Alanis shouts "You can't retire! You're the only reason I became one of the King's Guardswomen, if you leave then…"
Lance interrupts "Alanis, my sword is a two handed one, and I refuse to fight without it. I have no other choice, I have to do this"
King Arthur leans in and dreadfully asks "Are you absolutely sure this is what you want?"
Lance solemnly nods his head yes. Arthur could not believe what he was seeing, the greatest knight of the Round Table, the greatest knight in the world going into retirement. Alanis held all but one of her tears. It slid slowly down her face; she could not recall the last time she cried. She closed her eyes and walked away. The King let Lance stay in his castle until he recovers enough blood to be on his way. Lance stayed for a few weeks in King Arthur's guest room. The day finally came where Lance leaves off to Corsica to start his new, peaceful life. When he was almost finished packing for the trip, Alanis came into the room.
She speaks in a calm, quiet voice, unlike her usual loud and angry one "I'm going to miss you Lance, you were like a father to me"
Lance lets out a sigh and responds "Alanis, you are the greatest mage I've ever seen. I'm honored and proud to have the mage prodigy as my partner. We've had some fun times together."
"That's still not as cool a title as 'Gaia's Swordsman' what do you plan to do now?" asks Alanis
"I'm going to Corsica, settle down in a nice cozy home, maybe find a wife and successor to the Westbrook family name" responds Lance
"Hah, good luck finding someone who will take you as their husband" says Alanis
"Hilarious…" says lance, slightly annoyed
Lance was ready to ride his steed into the port of Fort Stonehenge. He looks back at everyone watching him leave, and in the very front of the crowd was Alanis, who waved Lance goodbye. Lance waved back and rode his steed into the sunset, never to be seen again by the King, Alanis, or the people of Camelot.