Dragon's Reign
Hopefully this won't get to confusing for people. So I'll explain it here. This is Duo's story. He is telling it. The POV is going to switch from Duo telling the story to him REMEMBERING what happened. Does that make sense? It might happen suddenly. Well, if it gets to confusing, let me know and I'll try my best to explain it for you.
BTW I unfortunately don't own the G-boys; if I did I would be much happier, wallowing in money. But I don't so don't bother suing; I don't have anything, I'm a poor college student people! Unless of course you want a couple blood thirsty dust bunnies....I got plenty of those. Comments are always appreciated....craved actually. REVIEWS!!! I NEED REVIEWS. Uh...sorry....I'm ok now. So please, review; let me know what you liked, what you didn't, the good, the bad and the ugly basically. However flames will be laughed at, so I wouldn't even bother.
Prologue:
Misery. That basically summed up the beginning of my life, absolute misery. First I was stuck being a peasant, then a 'vagabond', then an orphan vagabond, and then a slave. My life sucked. I seem to be getting ahead of myself. The name is Duo, Duo Maxwell if you will. Not that anyone really cares about my last name, hell they don't care 'bout my first name. "Hey boy!" or "Slave!" works just fine for these folks. How did I become a slave, you ask? Heh, funny story that, kinda long too, you sure you got the time? Oh, you do? Drat....well I guess I'll tell ya; though it ain't to pretty. My folks were born as peasants in the Kingdom of Sanc. Nice place really, right next to the ocean and all. We lived out in the country, my folks and me had a lil' cottage set next to the forest at the base of the mountains. It was peaceful, pleasant place. We were poor, but content for the most part. Everyone in our lil' village knew each other, we were all basically family. All was wonderful, at least to my twelve year old little eyes it was.
That is, until the raiders came.
There had been no way of knowing when they came; we had no way of defending ourselves. We were a peaceful village. Granted the adults and many of the children too, armed themselves with pitchforks and other farm equipment, but it hadn't been enough. The raider's slaughtered my village, not leaving a man, woman, or child alive. Hell they even killed our livestock. You're probably asking yourself, how could they have killed everyone, when you're still alive....am I right? Thought so. You see, that horrid night, I had been in the cellar when the village had been attacked. When my mother realized what was happening, she barred the doors, trapping me inside the cellar, thus saving my skin. However, I had been cursed with amazingly good hearing, so I heard what was going on above me, and my mind conjured up all sorts of horrid scenes. I tucked myself into one of the dark corners of the cellar, and tried my best to hide. I became very good at hiding.... I don't know how long I waited down there in the cellar, praying to the Gods that everything would be alright. But, there were no Gods out and about that night, only the god of Death.
I eventually fell asleep, wrapped in the cold safety the darkness of the cellar provided. When I finally woke, I woke to the sound of things crashing, and pounding noises. I didn't move; I didn't know who the hell was out there. Was it my mother trying to get back to me? Or was it a raider who was looting my village? I didn't know. So I didn't say anything. Finally,
"Is anyone here!?!" a voice called, the voice was disoriented, but it sounded familiar. As quietly as I could I moved to the door of he cellar. There I stopped; I crouched next to it, listening to see if the voice would speak again.
"Hello!?!" The voice called. It was definitely familiar. My heart skipped a beat...someone else had survived! Yet, years of living on the outskirts of a forest had taught me caution, and these instincts reigned in my excitement. For all I know, I could be a trick. I gently put pressure against the door; it only gave a bit; but it was enough for a scrawny brat like me to slip through. As silent as the shadows I had spent the night in, I slipped through the ruined buildings; seeking the person calling.
"HELLO!?!?!?!" The voice called again, it had a desperate edge to it.
I peeked around the corner of what use to be the tavern stable wall, standing there in the middle of the town square, just as dirty and sooty as me, was my best friend and shield sibling, Jared. He looked scarred, sad, and furious all at the same time. His normal blonde hair was dark with soot, making his golden eyes seem to glow.
"Is anyone else alive?" he had said softly. I don't know what it was; relief, fear, the look in his eyes, or those words, but I threw caution to the wind and ran towards him
"Jared!" I called, and threw myself into his arms. We didn't care that it wasn't proper for men to show emotion, much less hold each other; but we didn't care, we were just happy that we weren't alone. "Tristan; Gods I was so scarred that I was the only one left, that they had gotten all of you." He whispered, burying his face in my thick hair. No, my name wasn't always Duo, now hush and let me finish... We stood like that for a long time, taking comfort from each others presence. Finally we pulled away; there was work still to be done; we had to bury the dead. That particular ugly task took until night fall, we gathered as many of our family and friends as we could find, some were under to much rubble and beyond our reach; others there just wasn't enough left. That night, however, we preformed the death rites of our town. We sang the songs of death, and danced the Path to the Gates. Then we lit the bodies on fire, and continued with the dance long into the night.
When we finally ended, the Rites of Passage complete; Jared and I stood in silence and watched the fire burn away all we ever knew.
"There's nothing left for us here." I said, the heat from the fire doing nothing to chase away the chill in my soul.
"No, we can not live here by ourselves. We can travel to the city, try and find our way there?"
I nodded in agreement. "But how will we get by? We have nothing...hell to most people, we ARE nothing."
"We will find a way." Jared said, smiling, and then the smile faded, "We're starting a new life, Jared and Tristan the farmboys are no longer who we are."
"No, they were innocent, untouched by death." I agree, feeling far older then my twelve years. Maybe our souls had aged, no one as young as us had ever preformed the Rites of Passage, much less have done it alone.
"We should take new names." Jared said, he thought a moment, "When I crawled out of the rubble, I thought that I was the only one here, I was so sure that everyone was gone, and I would be left alone, like I was all those years ago. I think I shall be Solo."
I put my hand on my friends shoulder, "But you're not alone. You haven't been since you arrived here."
"No, you were always there."
"And I shall always be there. Because of that, I shall be Duo."
Solo smiled, "Duo to my Solo, hm? I like it" Long ago when I had first met Jared, we had preformed the ritual of becoming Shield siblings. Basically it was a blood-bonding ceremony, where you make a shallow cut diagonal across your palm and then clasp hands with the person who is becoming your partner. It was a powerful bond; perhaps that is why the gods spared us. Who knows?
And so Solo and Duo Maxwell were born. And they were heading for the big city to wreck some havoc.
Hopefully this won't get to confusing for people. So I'll explain it here. This is Duo's story. He is telling it. The POV is going to switch from Duo telling the story to him REMEMBERING what happened. Does that make sense? It might happen suddenly. Well, if it gets to confusing, let me know and I'll try my best to explain it for you.
BTW I unfortunately don't own the G-boys; if I did I would be much happier, wallowing in money. But I don't so don't bother suing; I don't have anything, I'm a poor college student people! Unless of course you want a couple blood thirsty dust bunnies....I got plenty of those. Comments are always appreciated....craved actually. REVIEWS!!! I NEED REVIEWS. Uh...sorry....I'm ok now. So please, review; let me know what you liked, what you didn't, the good, the bad and the ugly basically. However flames will be laughed at, so I wouldn't even bother.
Prologue:
Misery. That basically summed up the beginning of my life, absolute misery. First I was stuck being a peasant, then a 'vagabond', then an orphan vagabond, and then a slave. My life sucked. I seem to be getting ahead of myself. The name is Duo, Duo Maxwell if you will. Not that anyone really cares about my last name, hell they don't care 'bout my first name. "Hey boy!" or "Slave!" works just fine for these folks. How did I become a slave, you ask? Heh, funny story that, kinda long too, you sure you got the time? Oh, you do? Drat....well I guess I'll tell ya; though it ain't to pretty. My folks were born as peasants in the Kingdom of Sanc. Nice place really, right next to the ocean and all. We lived out in the country, my folks and me had a lil' cottage set next to the forest at the base of the mountains. It was peaceful, pleasant place. We were poor, but content for the most part. Everyone in our lil' village knew each other, we were all basically family. All was wonderful, at least to my twelve year old little eyes it was.
That is, until the raiders came.
There had been no way of knowing when they came; we had no way of defending ourselves. We were a peaceful village. Granted the adults and many of the children too, armed themselves with pitchforks and other farm equipment, but it hadn't been enough. The raider's slaughtered my village, not leaving a man, woman, or child alive. Hell they even killed our livestock. You're probably asking yourself, how could they have killed everyone, when you're still alive....am I right? Thought so. You see, that horrid night, I had been in the cellar when the village had been attacked. When my mother realized what was happening, she barred the doors, trapping me inside the cellar, thus saving my skin. However, I had been cursed with amazingly good hearing, so I heard what was going on above me, and my mind conjured up all sorts of horrid scenes. I tucked myself into one of the dark corners of the cellar, and tried my best to hide. I became very good at hiding.... I don't know how long I waited down there in the cellar, praying to the Gods that everything would be alright. But, there were no Gods out and about that night, only the god of Death.
I eventually fell asleep, wrapped in the cold safety the darkness of the cellar provided. When I finally woke, I woke to the sound of things crashing, and pounding noises. I didn't move; I didn't know who the hell was out there. Was it my mother trying to get back to me? Or was it a raider who was looting my village? I didn't know. So I didn't say anything. Finally,
"Is anyone here!?!" a voice called, the voice was disoriented, but it sounded familiar. As quietly as I could I moved to the door of he cellar. There I stopped; I crouched next to it, listening to see if the voice would speak again.
"Hello!?!" The voice called. It was definitely familiar. My heart skipped a beat...someone else had survived! Yet, years of living on the outskirts of a forest had taught me caution, and these instincts reigned in my excitement. For all I know, I could be a trick. I gently put pressure against the door; it only gave a bit; but it was enough for a scrawny brat like me to slip through. As silent as the shadows I had spent the night in, I slipped through the ruined buildings; seeking the person calling.
"HELLO!?!?!?!" The voice called again, it had a desperate edge to it.
I peeked around the corner of what use to be the tavern stable wall, standing there in the middle of the town square, just as dirty and sooty as me, was my best friend and shield sibling, Jared. He looked scarred, sad, and furious all at the same time. His normal blonde hair was dark with soot, making his golden eyes seem to glow.
"Is anyone else alive?" he had said softly. I don't know what it was; relief, fear, the look in his eyes, or those words, but I threw caution to the wind and ran towards him
"Jared!" I called, and threw myself into his arms. We didn't care that it wasn't proper for men to show emotion, much less hold each other; but we didn't care, we were just happy that we weren't alone. "Tristan; Gods I was so scarred that I was the only one left, that they had gotten all of you." He whispered, burying his face in my thick hair. No, my name wasn't always Duo, now hush and let me finish... We stood like that for a long time, taking comfort from each others presence. Finally we pulled away; there was work still to be done; we had to bury the dead. That particular ugly task took until night fall, we gathered as many of our family and friends as we could find, some were under to much rubble and beyond our reach; others there just wasn't enough left. That night, however, we preformed the death rites of our town. We sang the songs of death, and danced the Path to the Gates. Then we lit the bodies on fire, and continued with the dance long into the night.
When we finally ended, the Rites of Passage complete; Jared and I stood in silence and watched the fire burn away all we ever knew.
"There's nothing left for us here." I said, the heat from the fire doing nothing to chase away the chill in my soul.
"No, we can not live here by ourselves. We can travel to the city, try and find our way there?"
I nodded in agreement. "But how will we get by? We have nothing...hell to most people, we ARE nothing."
"We will find a way." Jared said, smiling, and then the smile faded, "We're starting a new life, Jared and Tristan the farmboys are no longer who we are."
"No, they were innocent, untouched by death." I agree, feeling far older then my twelve years. Maybe our souls had aged, no one as young as us had ever preformed the Rites of Passage, much less have done it alone.
"We should take new names." Jared said, he thought a moment, "When I crawled out of the rubble, I thought that I was the only one here, I was so sure that everyone was gone, and I would be left alone, like I was all those years ago. I think I shall be Solo."
I put my hand on my friends shoulder, "But you're not alone. You haven't been since you arrived here."
"No, you were always there."
"And I shall always be there. Because of that, I shall be Duo."
Solo smiled, "Duo to my Solo, hm? I like it" Long ago when I had first met Jared, we had preformed the ritual of becoming Shield siblings. Basically it was a blood-bonding ceremony, where you make a shallow cut diagonal across your palm and then clasp hands with the person who is becoming your partner. It was a powerful bond; perhaps that is why the gods spared us. Who knows?
And so Solo and Duo Maxwell were born. And they were heading for the big city to wreck some havoc.