Hello everyone! This is a new story, based on the Dragon Nest world! I kinda rushed the ending a bit, so I might go back to it... But enjoy for now!
I'm open to suggestions as always!
Dragon Nest (c) whoever/whatever (I'm so sorry I don't really know)
Chapter One
"Ah… I'm tired! Let's just stop here and call it a day!"
"Are you stupid? Stopping? Here?"
"Hmph. She's a sorceress. What do you expect?"
"It'll be fine, let's keep going. Right, come on everyone! Cheer up and let's get going!"
The conspicuous band of four adventurers continued their exhausted trundling through the dark woods. They were awfully tired, having already encountered various troops of goblins and minotaurs and whatnots… Now night was falling and the forest seemed even darker and more dangerous than before. Walking in a uniform line, they forced themselves to keep going. It wouldn't be safe to camp out in such creepy forests during nights as sinister as these. They would keep going until they found a little village at least or perhaps just until they found the company of other adventurers. If they were lucky, then maybe they would come across an inn where they could stay the night, someplace warm and homely along a dirty path.
A blond warrior led the way, his sword on his back. Lennart. His hair was unnaturally messy and unkempt, but with some charm to it. His clothes were muddy and bloodstained from the previous fights. Despite his rough condition, he was still grinning and laughing, blue eyes shining, encouraging all the others on. Impatiently he would run ahead, only to run back and urge the others to hurry up.
Next trundled the sorceress, complaining as she walked. Zarbara. Her long purple-pink hair was tightly tied back into a strict, high ponytail, her eyes which were of the same shade reflected her tiredness. Her garments were in a slightly better condition, having not taken the front lines during the fights, instead happily attacking from a safe distance with her magic. As of now, she had more or less given up all hope of finding a comfortable place to stay the night.
Then came an archer, silvery-white hair tied into a lower ponytail. Rhaella. Her clothes were the tidiest by far, since she too had leisurely been attacking at a distance, shooting with the eagle-eyed precision only elves had. She carried a gold and silver quiver on her back with strange symbols engraved into the leather. Perhaps it was elvish. Perhaps it meant something important. Those light violet eyes didn't reveal anything.
Finally, a cleric scouted at the back. Hunter. His wounds had been healed and the only traces of being attacked were scratched across his wool shirt and trousers. His wand he had put away on his belt, but nonetheless, he carried his shield on his left arm just in case. He had learnt that you could never be too careful. His blank expression was framed by brown hair and those amber eyes flickered with a somewhat vengeful fire.
These unruly adventurers were nothing like one another. Their characters and personalities totally contrasted each other and they couldn't get along for any more than five or ten minutes straight. Their fights were disjointed and they were always out of sync. Often, they would argue with one another whilst somebody was still
being attacked. The warrior would recklessly charge ahead without warning; the sorceress would laze around as much as possible and only make a move when it suited her; the archer selfishly took cover in the trees and fired sporadic arrows from there; the cleric believed in self-preservation and always healed himself first, even if it meant that he couldn't heal the others.
So what had drawn the four of them together? Was it coincidence? Was it the workings of Fate? Were they meant to be together? The four of them had met by Crystal Stream.
The warrior and archer had appeared out of Wind Forest, after leaving Prairie Town in search of their respective ambitions. Lennart was on a quest to search for his missing father. The man was a legendary swordsman, well-known throughout the whole of the realm. But after the last war ended, the man had been reported missing. Nobody had noticed it until he had disappeared. Nobody knew exactly how he had vanished either. It was a complete mystery to his fellow swordsmen, the commander and his family. The young warrior wished to follow in his father's footsteps and become a renowned swordsman too. With that dream in mind, he set off to follow his ambitions through.
The elf had come from a land far away. Rhaella was an orphan elf. This was frowned upon by her race's traditions and after ten years in an orphanage, she had run away, unable to take the badmouthing anymore. She left and lived roughly for the next few years of her life, finding various masters to teach her the way of the bow. Eventually, she left her land altogether in search of her Telezia – her destiny. For what reason was she born? To be humiliated and to be laughed at? Or was there something more? The young elf wanted to know the answers. She wanted to know the meaning of her life. And so she set off and arrived in this land, in a small village named Prairie Town, where she was unwillingly caught up in the warrior's enthusiastic endeavours.
The sorceress and the cleric had come from Mana Ridge, a snowy place in the west. The sorceress had been disowned by her family. Zarbara came from a notorious family of sorceresses, all of which had been trained in prestigious magic institutes. The females all had the bloodline of the first sorceress, thus lending to their powerful mastery of magic. However, one day, this young sorceress was caught in the act of stealing one of the clan's most prized treasures which had been passed down for hundreds of decades. Her family, in order to avoid disgrace, kept this a secret and renounced her as their clan member. Lacking self-confidence, she tagged along with the cleric.
The cleric was the child of a family of hunters. But being a young child who had a strong sense of justice, he hated what his family did and rejected them completely. In the end, he joined the brotherhood of priests and sought answers to his tumulous life and confusion through Goddess Althea. He found peace and happiness within this path of life, and swore to bring divine judgement upon his own 'family'. Once travelling alone, he was soon joined by a very stubborn sorceress, who accompanied him on his journey to seek the answers to his own life… much to the cleric's annoyance.
When they had met, both pairs were in the middle of their own heated arguments: one about getting lost, and the other telling someone to get lost. Funnily, they met on the same side of the gently-flowing stream; one would assume that in typical meetings of Fate that they'd meet on different sides. For some time, they had stared at each other with the distrustful glare that people tend to have towards strangers.
"Hey, d'you two wanna join us?" Lennart was the first to speak.
Hunter glanced at the sorceress by his side and curtly replied, "She will. Have fun." With that, he turned and was about to leave when Zarbara grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.
"Nuh-uh, you're coming too, cleric boy." She shot him a vengeful smirk and smiled innocently at the warrior. "We'd love to join you!"
"Speak for yourself, Zebra," muttered the cleric under his breath. After observing the other party for a little longer, he seemed to change his mind and cleared his throat out of some nervousness. He closed his amber eyes and grumbled, "Whatever. Like I care anymore."
It took the sorceress some time to retort, "Zebra? Me? H-how dare you!"
The four walked awkwardly as a group over the bridge, to the other side of the Crystal Stream. The warrior grinned enthusiastically and suggested for everyone to introduce themselves. This was not an idea which the others particularly liked very much. All the other three did was say their names. With a sigh, Lennart introduced himself and began telling everyone else his life story so far, as they made their way toward Calderock Village. He quickly managed to bore his fellow adventurers, even though he didn't notice this himself. The sorceress fiddled with her hair and yawned, the archer counted her arrows then recounted them again, and the cleric became awfully interested in his wool shirt.
It was a huge relief to the three when they finally arrived in Calderock Village. Without a second's hesitation, they left the warrior in the middle of the village by a small stone fountain.
"I'm off to storage," hurried Zarbara.
"Blacksmith," mumbled Hunter.
"Trading house," muttered Rhaella.
In a matter of seconds, Lennart was alone. He wore a confused smile on his face, as if he still didn't quite understand what was going on. Shrugging, he sat down on the fountain's edge and gazed into the sky. He must have zoned out, because the others were soon back. He laughed to himself on the inside – at least they actually came back.
So that's the story of how the four adventurers met. As of now, they were trundling through a forest somewhere in Sigh Canyon. They had heard rumours of a little girl who got lost wandering in the wild. She was supposed to be visiting her grandma, but was said to have been captured by Harpies. Lennart, being the heroic warrior who was to follow in his father's footsteps, decided that this was the chance for the four of them to 'bond as a team'. This didn't appeal to the other three very much. Déjà vu. But somehow, they ended up accompanying the hero boy anyway.
"W-we're there!"
Zarbara's exclamation caused the others to jolt to attention. With what little energy they had left, they half-ran and half-tripped the rest of the way into an empty clearing. It was a beautiful clearing, apart from the fact that it was on the edge of a cliff. The moon shone down from a place high in the night sky, casting an eerie glow over the world.
"I-it's a dead end…" muttered the sorceress in disbelief.
"Great," grunted Rhaella.
"Ah, we can always turn back now –"
The warrior was cut off by a shrill shrieking. Behind them, a red harpy descended, blocking off the only exit. It was quickly joined by two dark elves, brandishing their sharp claws. Instinctively, the warrior unsheathed his sword and took the front line, warning the other three to 'stay back'. At this, the archer sniffed in disdain. She commented, "We're not weak you know. I don't need you to protect me."
She drew her silver bow and readied an arrow. Similarly, the sorceress pulled out her staff and drew a deep breath to compose herself. The cleric sighed in annoyance and went to stand beside the warrior. Those amber eyes burned as he widened his stance, wand and shield ready.
"Y-you guys…"
"Don't get the wrong idea, warrior boy."
Zarbara suppressed a laugh and Hunter said nothing as always. These four adventurers were a strange bunch indeed. They didn't fit with each other. They always contradicted each other at every possible opportunity. And yet, without speaking, they managed to coordinate their attacks with such deadly precision that the fight was over in a matter of seconds. There was nothing to see; everything was over in a blur of sword strikes, fire and ice, arrows and lightning. All that was left was a flurry of falling red feathers.
Lennart gave a satisfied sigh and stretched, sheathing his broadsword upon his back. He grinned at Hunter and said, "Thanks for the heal back there."
"Y-you just happened to be in range. That's all," stammered the cleric and glanced away.
"Someone's not being honest~" sang Zarbara, whacking the cleric on the head with her staff.
Rhaella looked up from counting her arrows… not like there was a need to count them though. She put them all back into her quiver and suggested, "Let's camp here for the night. We'll take turns to keep watch. I'll go first."
"Eh?" blinked the sorceress, "You mean we're sleeping here? O-on this dirty, grassy ground? Like, with no blankets or anything?"
"It's better than sleeping in the forest."
"Here, I'll lend you my jacket. You can use that for a sheet." The warrior took off the said jacket and handed it to the sorceress with another grin. The girl with the vibrant hair seemed to tear up for a moment, before shaking her head and laughing a 'thank you'.
In the end, only two of the adventurers had taken watch – the archer and the cleric. Seeing the other two's peacefully sleeping faces, they didn't have the heart to wake them up. They kept watch together, silent under the silent sky. There was no need for words. Besides, what would they talk about? Just by one look at each other's eyes, they knew they were all the same underneath. They all just hid it in different ways.
...
By the next morning, they were all back in Calderock Village. Rhaella had gone off to the trading house again and Hunter went to the nearest bakery to get food for them all. This left Zarbara and Lennart standing awkwardly together with nothing to do. They sat side by side on the stone fountain's edge, waiting for the others to come back. When the four had gathered again, they sat around the fountain, sharing bread and a bit of cake the baker's daughter gave Hunter for free. Even as they ate, the atmosphere was tight. Nobody talked.
Fed up of it all, Zarbara summoned up a bit of ice and swiftly chucked it down the cleric's back. Amber eyes flared as he jumped up and shouted obscenities at the sorceress, pushing her into the fountain. Instantly, the water all froze.
"Uhm… whoops?"
The warrior burst out laughing, whilst the archer stifled a snigger. The cleric raised an eyebrow and smirked with a triumphant pfft.
"No, guys seriously. This isn't fudging funny… look, I'm frozen in. W-wait! Hey! Don't walk off! Help me!"
And that was the beginning of our four adventurers' journey together. The world certainly was strange and either the Fate which brought them together was cruel, or simply clever. After all, they all had something in common which they refused to admit. They hid as much as they could from each other… for now anyway. A lot has happened since they first met and had their first journey together. And here, the story shall be told.