OoO( 1 )OoO
The hero leaned over staring at the map. He had been staring at it for about two hours, hoping something would jump out at him. But nothing happened. He just stared blankely at the map, waiting. Suddenly, his heart jump started as someone barged into his house. He looked up outraged, then sighed and smiled at the ground.
"Cara, how many times do I have to tell you to knock before you bust the door in. At the very least I won't have a heart attack before the door flies off." said the mage. He looked back at his student and noticed she was dressed very classy. Her short black hair was spiked in the back as normal, but her now grown body was covered in a very elegant, yet teasingly revealing dress. The black cloth went from her shoulders down to her abdomen, allowing viewers to see a small amount of skin going all the way down her chest. The lower half of the dress reached the floor with a split from the bottom to the top of her right hip. She wore a beautiful necklace around her neck, with silver linked chains holding a gem the same color as her ruby eyes in its place.
She smiled back at him. "Oh cummon Van. Getting excitable in your old age?" she asked, giggling like mad when he glared at her. "It was a jest, don't throw me into the river over it." she said.
"I'm not that old." he said smirking. "Well, at least not compared to some of the heroes in the guild. I think 29 is a decent age. Still too young to retire though." he said sighing. Then he looked at her again. "Is that what you are wearing to the ceremony?" he asked her. She nodded excitedly.
"What do you think? Scarlet helped me pick it out." she said as she held her arms out and spun in a full circle, showing off her exquisite gown to her mentor. He nodded in admiration.
"It goes perfectly with you. Scarlet has an eye for beauty." he said to her, making her squeal and run out the door. He laughed again, then looked down at the map. Sighing, he brushed his long hair back and began talking to himself. "Where are you Lyle?" he asked as his eyes searched across the parchment covered with red X's. The only location that they hadn't checked that was still within the reaches of Albion was Bowerstone North, for the obvious reason that it would be the last place someone like Lyle would try to hide.
Suddenly, footsteps behind him alerted him. But he knew her by her presence. He smiled as her arms wrapped around his waste gently. "Hello hero." she cooed gently.
He smirked at the nickname his wife had given him. Turning around in her arms, he kissed her and looked into her eyes. "Good morning beautiful. Are you ready for the festival tonight?" he asked her.
Elizabeth smiled and stepped back, showing the lovely red dress she had on. It wasn't near as revealing as Cara's, but it was still gorgeous, fitting to every curve in her body. "I think you are the only one in Albion who isn't ready." she said. "Now get upstairs and get dressed." she said, shooing him away from the table. Looking down at it, she lowered her head sadly. "Oh Lyle...where are you?" she asked, then went up the stairs after her husband.
OoOoO
The girl sat on the wall of the guild and stared at the darkness. She sadly wished she could see the sunset one more time, but knew that it would never happen. It had been a month since her dream. She thought that after the battle with Jack, she would retire her seeing powers for good. After all, they only brought ill news, and nothing good came from them.
But one night she had dozed off in her quarters in front of the fireplace. It was her favorite spot in the world. It seemed that no demon, no bandit, no beast could ever reach her if she sat there. Her mind had seemed to shut down her body and she faded into unconsciousness. She opened her eyes again and saw in front of her a small village. It was sitting next to the shore of a sea. She looked down and noticed herself standing on the water of the sea, making her feel somewhat nervous. But all her emotion flew out of her mind as she heard the loudest roar ever cut through her ears.
Looking up from her position, she saw the village go up in flames and a dark figure mustered itself from the smoke. It was enormous, with a long serpentine neck and breath that smote the village with hellfire. Suddenly, she heard laughing from the village. No...from the beast! It was laughing, and it was familiar. One she would never forget even if she lived to be a thousand years old. Jack of Blades was laughing maniacly again. Suddenly she awoke and for a moment, her body refused to move. When finally her limbs responded to her urges, she got up and went immediately to her mother.
Scarlet was baking in the kitchens when her daughter confronted her about the dream. The womans eyes went wide with horror. "Oh no...Jack is coming back..." she said as she read the dream perfectly. "How...how can he come back!?" she asked as she sank to the floor holding her head. "We need to find Lyle. If what your dreams says is true, he will be infinitely more powerful than he ever was..." she said. From that point forward, there was a manhunt for the hero across then entire continent of Albion . But in years, nobody had found Lyle. And the manhunt didn't change anything. Months of searching proved to be fruitless, as if he just dropped off the face of the earth.
Sighing to herself, she stood up and walked down the stairs to the the ground, where she was confronted by the guildmaster. "Oh, hello Theresa. Are you going to the celebration tonight?" he asked. She sighed again.
"I fear if we do not find my brother we may not have a reason to celebrate." she said. "The fall of Jack years ago inspired this festival, but it seems that it was a pointless effort." she said sadly.
The guildmaster, a normally gentle and caring man stood to his full height and glared at her. "Are you saying that Talon's sacrifice was pointless?" he asked her roughly. "Everything she died for was all meaningless?"
She looked up at him, stunned. It seemed since the dream, she had forgotten about all the sacrifice that went into killing Jack of Blades. She lowered her head in shame. "I apologize. Talon was a great hero, and a good friend to me as well..." she said. "I only meant that Lyle killed Jack, and even more. How would Jack be able to come back? He no longer has a body, even if he could escape from hell." she said.
"These are matters not worth worrying about Theresa." he said, making her look at him questioningly. "As we have seen from your past prophesies, what happens happens. There is nothing any of us can do to change it because we don't know how things will get to where they are. If we try to change it, then we find out later that we were the cause of it. So all we can do is live life the way it is and hope that Lyle comes out of the woodwork sooner or later." he said. He smiled gently at her. "Theresa, you are still a young girl. You should be worried about things such as marriage and..." he said, but was cut off as the girl burst into laughter.
"M-Marriage?" she asked through gasps of air.
The guildmaster looked at her startled. "Yes, of course. Isn't it every young girls desire to marry a..." he said, but was cut off again as she laughed harder. "Might I ask what is so funny?" he said curiously.
She stopped and took deep breaths before answering. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to insult you...It's just I've never really seen myself as the married type. I mean, when I was a girl in Oakvale I did dream about it. But now it just...seems like dead weight." she said shrugging.
The guildmaster nodded understandingly. "Of course. There are those who would rather be a free spirit than be tied in matrimony. It is nothing strange." he said. "Now then, about the celebration..." he said.
"Alright alright, I'll go get dressed." she said smiling. "Thank you again guildmaster. You are a good friend." she said hugging him.
"Oh, I won't be guildmaster for much longer. I've decided to retire and pass the guild on to another." he said to her. "So you can call me Marcus from now on." he said.
She stood stunned momentarily. It was as if she had finally learned the meaning of life. Nobody in the existence of the guild aside from Maze had known the guildmasters real name. She smiled and nodded. "Alright Marcus, I will see you at Hook Coast." she said, then turned and walked towards the guild.
OoOoO
The woman walked through trees and brush, the path before her lit only by the failing light of the sun as the massive star sank behind the horizon. She held her bow over one shoulder, only two arrows left in her arsenal. Almost a mile behind her was a massacre of beasts like nobody had ever seen. Walking through Darkwood wasn't smart unless you carried one of two things. Magic strong enough to destroy a small town, or a weapon and skill enough to use it like it was a part of you.
This was her case. Her bow was an extension of her soul, a reaper of death to all who were in its sights. She had been attacked by a massive horde of creatures that stumbled into her by accident.
A small group of hobbes was being attacked by a pack of balverines when they had stumbled into her. They had immediately turned their attention to her, which ended up being the last thing they did. Her arrows pierced as if they were the wind.
In a matter of moments the entire group was dead. She stepped into the glow of the cullis gate and for a moment, and she was lifted from the ground. Landing softly on a stone dais, she walked forward into the snow covered grounds of Hook Coast . The icy flakes brushed against her skin and melted instantly, falling by the millions. She walked into the town, greeted by everyone as she was well known. She stepped over to the house off to her left and opened the door with a key.
Pushing the door open, she walked inside and hung her bow up on the wall, then set her quiver down under it. The girl came down the stairs and saw the woman, then smiled brightly. "Big sister! I thought you were going to be late!" she said as she ran upstairs to the room of the house.
Alex smiled at the girl as she ran up the stairs again. "I told you I would be here did I not?" she asked. Then her head turned to look at the picture hanging from the wall. There he was again. She never got tired of looking at the painting. I showed how much he had cared for her. He stood in defiance of death, facing a creature that was much stronger than he was just so he could avenge her. Her eyes traced his built body down to his infernal fists. Then up to the look of hatred and pain on his face. The old man that painted it did an excellent job, sparing no detail on the painting. Even the house that Van had been smashed through showed in the background.
She reached up and unbuckled her armor, then let it fall to the ground with a loud thud. Underneath was only a white cloth shirt that cut off just below her ribs, allowing her stomach to be seen. The girl came back down the stairs with elegant white robes in her arms, holding them up for the woman. Alex reached down and took them, then held them up so she could see. "They are gorgeous." She said admiringly.
The girl squealed with joy. "I knew you would like them! The merchant gave them to me for cheap also!" she said. Alex looked at her worriedly, then started to scan the robes for any defects. No merchant went cheap on an item, regardless if it was for a festival or not. But everything seemed fine with it, so she laid it down, then took off her under armor clothing. Aerika watched her admiringly. She was by far the most gorgeous female in Albion , and it was well known that she was as deadly as she was beautiful. Only those foolish sailors from foreign lands still tried to swoon her with valiant tales of heroism that were more unreal than even Lyle's adventures.
They, however, learned that trying to win her heart was an impossibility. And the more persistent ones learned the hard way, usually ending up hanging upside down from the roof of the tavern or putting out fires on their rears. She had been to the Arena as a guest once, invited to go with Van.
Though he did well, there was no question that his victory was the consequence of her skill with her bow. Wasps fell to his fire, hobbes fell to his lightning, and balverines fell to his dark army of summons. But the trolls, were more than he could handle, as it was when he was younger. Her bow struck true on the Onyx trolls and in a gasp of amazement from the crowd, both of the onyx trolls fell to three of her arrows.
From that point on, her name was set in stone. The Angel of Death, they called her, after her nickname given as an assassin. She turned down the offer to face Van in the final round and gave up the title to him. Though he was champion, he knew that there was no way he could have defeated her. Not just because of her skill, but he would never think about laying a hand on her. Van had also known that Alex's heart was sealed for one person, and as much as it had pained him, it wasn't him.
"Sister?" asked Aerika as she noticed the woman stare off into space. Alex shook her head then smiled.
"Sorry, daydreaming." She said, then began to dress for the nights events.
OoOoO
Fires were lit, cullis gates shined to life, and people crowded into Hook Coast from all over country to celebrate the day the hero of Albion struck down evil in its prime, and saved the land from the tyrannical reign of the madman, Jack of Blades.