DISCLAIMER (Look Mommy, I remembered!): I don't own Guild Wars, nor do I own NC Soft or Arena Net. I don't own the world, I didn't make up the setting. A short list of other things I do not own (but would like to) includes: a time machine, a space ship of some kind, magical powers and a dog. I did make up the storyline, however I wouldn't really claim I 'own it'. I just wrote it. All copyrights belong to NC Soft and Arena Net. Please don't sue me.
Author's Note: Hi everybody! Sorry about the sarcastic disclaimer, I'm tired and in a strange mood. Thanks for taking an interest in this story. Hopefully you'll find the time to leave a review and tell me what you think. Good or bad, I don't care! Either way, I hope you enjoy it.
If you've played Guild Wars, you can skip this paragraph (which I'm assuming most people who will look at this have). I have a few readers from the FFXI section when I wrote fan fiction there, and I don't know whether they'll want to read this if they like my writing. Yes, I know it's arrogant to assume that, but in case they do I'll use these notes to explain bits of Guild Wars that non-players may not get. So, first up: Ascalon and the Charr. Ascalon is one of the main three kingdoms of the world, set in idealistic green fields with farmland and the like. That is, until the Searing. An army of evil beasts called the Charr which Ascalon have always been able to hold back attacked the city using immense magical power to rain fire down upon it. It was literally scorched and destroyed, that even becoming known as the Searing. This prologue takes place before the Searing, and the rest of the story afterwards. In the game, you get to play before the Searing for a moment before you see it destroyed and your character goes 'on patrol' for two years, returning to the destroyed Ascalon where you start playing in the world proper. Hopefully everything else is easy to pick up, and if anything comes up in later chapters, I'll make sure to note it and explain it (if I figure out I have any non-Guild Wars playing readers….or any readers at all for that matter).
The characters in this are all played by people, but the characters I've gone for only have slightly similar traits as I tried to make them different and interesting. If anybody wants one, I may go back and edit a character list in here. Otherwise, you can stop reading boring notes from the author now and read the actual story.
IN THE ASHES OF ASCALON
PROLOGUE
Come on Leine, you can do this.
The green fields of Ascalon stretched out before Leine as she stood in the mighty city's exit, quickly reconsidering her current plan. The grass swayed in the wind, the warm air seemingly inviting her to step out.
Yeah, step out and get ambushed by a million monsters.
She gulped. She had come this far. She had done all of her training, she was ready. She was just nervous. It was natural, she convinced herself. She finally took the step, her high heeled boot touching down with a satisfying click on the stone. She quickly walked onto the dusty path, which in turn muffled her footsteps, which she was glad of. Noise attracted monsters, or so her paranoid mind told herself. The sun was hot, too hot. Leine had the collar on her tight white mesmer garb perked up to protect her neck, her unusually pale complexion would otherwise be burnt to a crisp. She was hoping not literally.
Maybe I should go back.
She convinced herself to stop making excuses and moved on. The wind blew and her blonde hair was blown across her eyes. She sighed, frustrated. Now it was all out of place. Maybe she should go out when it was less windy. Or get a hat. Or a hair band. Or-
The plans forming in her mind to delay her necessary adventuring were interrupted as a small creature began to crawl towards her. A river skale. It looked at her for a moment and she froze.
Remember why you're out here. You're out here to get used to this sort of thing.
Her thoughts were useless as her entire body was frozen in fear. She couldn't tell if it was going to attack or not, but was too frightened to take any chances. She quickly got to casting a spell, that should sort it out. She cast the one that came most naturally to her, and watched it take effect. She then paused in horrific realisation.
Empathy. A simple spell, where the attacker feels pain as it attacks, a kind of enforced empathic relationship with its victim. A beautifully simple spell, and key to Leine's training as a mesmer. Unfortunately, for the spell to have any effect at all, Leine would have to take the hits. She shut her eyes and squealed as the creature swiped at her, knocking her off her feet. She crashed down, clutching her stomach in pain. The river skale jerked back, before shaking its head in confusion. It couldn't quite understand why it was hurt, but was sure the cause was that pesky girl. It decided the only solution was to keep hitting her. River skales are not smart creatures. Unfortunately, neither was Leine, because she was now sprawled in too much pain to move, facing the monster. It hopped towards her again, and dropped dead. She blinked, looking up in confusion.
"And I thought mesmers hated getting dirty." Came a sarcastic voice. Leine struggled to her feet, still clutching her stomach. A woman stood before Leine with a cocky grin. She walked towards her, sheathing her bow. Her long red hair flowed behind her like a cape. She wore the traditional brown ranger clothes, which generally looked mismatched, made from whatever resources she could find clearly. Leine couldn't help but think how it looked ugly, and how she wouldn't be caught dead wearing it. She was already scrubbing frantically at the dirt on her own clothes. The woman laughed. "Maybe I'm just stereotyping." She added sarcastically.
"Be quiet." Leine said in her fairly upper class accent.
"Hey, I just saved you!" The ranger pointed out.
"You did?" Leine looked at the dead skale, with the arrow lodged in its head. "Oh. Urm, thank you." She bowed awkwardly. "I was in a bit of trouble there."
"New at this?" The ranger laughed. "I'm Arziel." She held out a hand, and Leine took it cautiously. Arziel shook hard, and Leine recoiled her arm quickly. Arziel laughed. "Can I ask a question? What's with the mask?" Leine wore a green mask across her face, a mesmer tradition, one that surrounded her eyes and was ordained with green and gold.
"It's so people can't recognise me." Leine answered simply.
"I don't think anybody out here knows you." Arziel pointed out.
"I'm Leine Chuth. I'm sure they'll have heard of me!" Leine said proudly. Arziel blinked.
"Who?" She asked. Leine folded her arms.
"You know, the actress?" Arziel kept her blank look. "I do plays over at the theatre." Still blank. "Oh come on, you've never seen a play?"
"Not with you in." Arziel answered smugly. "Beside, don't actors were masks during the performances?"
"Well, yes." Leine admitted.
"So we wouldn't be able to recognise you anyway." Arziel pointed out, having far to much fun winding Leine up.
"Well, I suppose." Leine sighed.
"Not to mention you're apparently nowhere near as famous as you would have liked." Arziel continued. "And judging by people who like to think they're famous, that means you won't want to actually hide it, because you desperately want to be recognised."
"What are you saying?" Leine sounded slightly upset.
"I'm saying take the goofy mask off." Arziel answered. Leine blushed before doing so.
"Now my face is going to get sunburnt." She complained.
"If you hadn't spent so long indoors in the first place you wouldn't have that problem." Arziel recognised pale skin as a sign of people who at least liked to think they were rich enough to never go outside. Leine was clearly backtracking on this a bit. "So, what are you actually trying to do?" Leine blushed again, this time very brightly.
"I-urm. I-" She paused. "I got kicked out of the theatre." She finally admitted. Arziel couldn't hold back a laugh. She wanted to, she could see that Leine was upset, but it was just too funny. She laughed long and hard before finally coming back to face Leine, who looked like she was either going to cry or run away. Luckily she did neither.
"So you came out here?" Arziel asked.
"They said I was a little drama queen, so I might make a good mesmer." Leine pouted. "I've been doing the training, and this is my first attempt to go outside, without an escort at least."
"Did it occur to you they may be joking?" Arziel questioned. Leine just crossed her arms in frustration. "Okay, look, I don't want to have to hear about a dead mesmer tomorrow. Why don't you try to find my sister?"
"Sister?" Leine asked.
"Yeah." Arziel answered. "She's just started out too. A necromancer, she didn't want to follow my example apparently."
"Necromancer?" Leine shuddered. They were creepy.
"Yeah.
A necromancer. Don't tell me you have issues with those as well."
Arziel sighed.
"No. They're fine." Leine squeaked.
"You should get on alright. She's a very controlled, calm, in charge sort." Arziel began.
"YEEHAH! COME GET SOME!" A voice suddenly screamed over the hills. A purple haired girl ran down the grass and turned, firing bolts of green energy from the end of her staff. A hoard of grawl, about six in total, were in close pursuit.
"Of course, I could be wrong on that matter." Arziel sighed as she saw her sister. The grawl were far more dangerous than the simple river skale Leine had fought, being monstrous creatures with enough intelligence to fashion simple weapons, and enough aggressive instinct to use them.
"THAT ALL YOU GOT?" The woman screamed.
"Maialin!" Arziel snapped.
"Oh, hi, sis." Maialin beamed. "Little busy right now."
"I can see that." Arziel growled. "What the hell do you think your doing."
"Relax, it's under control." Maialin laughed.
"I count six grawl there. You tell me how that's under control!" Arziel scolded.
"Just give me a second to-" Arziel was already firing arrows. One of the grawl went down quickly. "Hey! These are my kills!" The necromancer protested. "Fine! I'll show you what I can do!" Maialin quickly cast something, and the sickening noise of bones and flesh mutating filled the air. From the corpse of the fallen grawl rose a new beast, a mangle of flesh and bone. A bone horror, bound to server their necromancer master until they perish. Leine suddenly became even paler, throwing a gloved hand up to her mouth. The bone horror ran, struggling on its reconstructed legs, to attack the grawl hoard. The grawl piled on it, quickly ripping it apart, but Arziel took out two more of the beasts as they did so. The grawl turned and decided to retreat seeing a battle that they could not win. Maialin laughed in victory.
"Yeah you better run!" She called.
"Sis!" Arziel cried. "That was just plain reckless. You could have gotten killed."
"A pretty girl like me?" Maialin skipped around. "I don't think so. Those guards would have come running the moment I got in trouble."
"And what about her?" Arziel pointed to Leine, who was shaking, staring at the fallen bone horror and feeling very sick.
"Well, I guess she's fairly attractive. They might have saved her, were I not around to grab their attention." Maialin answered.
"I meant she could have gotten killed!" Arziel snapped. "You need to be more respectful."
"Yeah, fancy me having fun. I'm a bad ranger!" Maialin sarcastically shouted at herself. "Oh wait, I'm not a ranger at all! That's right! Guess you're in no position of authority over me!"
"Maia, this is serious." Arziel groaned. "You're going to be Charr meat if you aren't careful."
"We could fight Charr?" Leine suddenly whimpered.
"Only if you're stupid." Maialin replied. "So looking at you, I'd guess 'yes'."
"Hey!" Leine protested, but that was as far as he got. She didn't really have a much better come back.
"Maia, this is your new partner." Arziel said proudly.
"Wha?" Maialin answered in shock. "You want me to go drown her for you?"
"No. She's new. You're new. Maybe the two of you can keep each other in check." Arziel explained. "She's too scared to do anything, and you're so reckless you do everything. I figure you must find a happy medium."
"Don't pretend you won't be watching over me sis." Maialin mocked. "I can do whatever I want 'coz you won't let me get hurt."
"Maia, that's the exact kind of attitude that's going to get both of us killed." Arziel sighed.
Leine shuffled from foot to foot awkwardly, having the incredible urge to just turn around and run away. She had no particular urge to get involved with either of these two. But she had to admit, they were probably going to help her. She clearly didn't stand much of a chance on her own, and she could use the back up. She rubbed her stomach. It hurt from where she had taken the hit. It had just been a light blow, doing little more than knocking the wind out of her, but it still hurt.
"Maybe I'll just go back to town." She said sheepishly, deciding she had had enough adventure for one day.
"Oh no you don't!" Maialin cried. "If I have to get lumbered with some tarty mesmer, we're at least doing something fun."
"Tarty?" Leine repeated, confused.
"Look, whatever you two do, don't get into trouble." Arziel warned. "I'm not going to be there to bail you out."
"Where you goin', sis?" Maialin asked with genuine interest.
"I'm going to meet Vahlahn, if you must know." Arziel grumbled.
"Oh, your boyfriend." Maialin laughed.
"He is not my boyfriend." Arziel snapped.
"Well, with his stamina, I'd think not." Maialin joked.
"There is nothing wrong with his stamina." Arziel sounded like she was about to explode.
"Oh, you know, do you?" Maialin mocked.
"Maialin. One day, you'll anger the wrong person and they'll skin you alive." Arziel said through gritted teeth.
"That's okay. Hopefully by then I'll have transplanted my consciousness into an all powerful lich and have no need for skin." Maialin replied casually. Leine shuddered again. Arziel just shook her head and walked away.
Vahlahn was stood upon the northern wall of Ascalon, dressed in a long grey coat with purple trim, heavy boots and grey trousers. His light blue hair danced in the wind as he watched the wilderness beyond. Arziel walked up behind him. He knew she was there.
"Took you long enough." He laughed.
"I had to baby-sit Maialin again." Arziel explained. "She's so reckless she's going to get herself killed, I know it."
"I'm sure she'll be fine." Vahlahn replied. "Provided Ascalon is."
"What do you mean by that?" Arziel asked curiously.
"The Charr are up to something." He explained. "They've been buzzing around all day."
"Probably just another suicide charge on the wall. I wouldn't worry about it." Arziel said softly.
"It's unusually co-ordinated. I think they're planning something." Vahlahn told her.
"Shall we go out and investigate?" Arziel suggested.
"And you call Maialin reckless." Sighed Vahlahn.
Maialin was looking up and down Leine like she was delivering an inspection. Leine was the same height as Maialin, and both were short. Of course, Leine was in high heeled boots which meant she was even shorter, and Maialin made sure to remember that so that she could make 'shorty' jokes at an appropriate time.
"What are you doing?" Leine asked angrily.
"Just seeing what I can figure out about you." Maialin answered.
"You could ask." Leine grumbled.
"This is more fun." Maialin replied. Leine folded her arms, deciding to look over Maialin in the same way. She had purple hair, long strands fallen forwards over one eye, and was clad in tight black and crimson armour, which exposed the top of her breasts in a way Leine considered vulgar. A red cape hung from her back, ordained with a golden symbol. Now that Leine came to think of it, Arziel had been wearing a similar cape. "We belong to a guild." Maialin said. "Knew I was good at reading people. You were wondering why me and Arziel wore capes, right?"
"Urm. Yes." Leine answered. "A guild? Which one?"
"Gates of Divinity." Maialin answered proudly.
"I've never heard of them." Leine said plainly.
"Well, we're a small group." She paused. "Very small. Me and sis formed it. Well, her and her not-boyfriend Vahlahn, then they let me in."
"Could I join?" Leine asked hopefully. "I want to start adventuring and joining a guild is a good way to go about it."
"Well, joining is a long, drawn out process." Maialin began. "There are many challenges you must face. Such as the challenge of buying Maialin's food for a week. Or the challenge of doing all of Maialin's chores. Or the challenge of-"
"I
get the idea." Grumbled Leine. "I think I'll pass." She
sighed.
"Right. I think I got you figured. What's your name?"
Maialin asked.
"Leine Chuth." Leine answered proudly, looking for any spark of recognition in Maialin's eyes. There was none. She sighed.
"Right. Leine. You're a very formal person, your parents are rich, too rich for you to be doing this, your petrified of me and even more scared of the environment, far vainer than you'd like me to think and really irritated that I can read you so well." Maialin smirked.
"You should be a psychic." Leine said irritably.
"See?
Irritated." Maialin folded her arms and Leine groaned in
frustration.
"You missed the important bit." Leine shot.
"If I missed something, then it means I was right on the rest of the stuff." Maialin grinned. Leine sighed.
"I meant you missed that I'm an actress." She said proudly.
"Oh,
I figured 'drama queen'." Maialin laughed.
"Why does
everybody say that?" Leine asked nobody in particular.
"What plays you've been in, oh famous-nobody's-heard-of-actress?" Maialin asked.
"I was in the Seven Sisters most recently." Maialin said proudly.
"Oh! Wait! I saw that!" Maialin laughed. "I know you! Oh god, you completely butchered that role."
"I did not!" Leine snapped.
"You did so! Way to overact! I mean, you completely missed the subtleties of the character." Maialin told her.
"I simply put a new spin on an established character." Leine explained.
"Yeah, by playing it crap." Maialin laughed. "God, I hope you're a better mesmer than you are an actress."
"Hey! I-" Leine suddenly froze as something echoed across the landscape. "Did you just hear something?"
"Yeah. It sounded like some kind of a roar." Maialin said slowly.
"We need to get to the city, and quickly." Leine decided, running without waiting for Maialin.
Vahlahn stopped dead in his tracks.
"What the hell are they doing?" He whispered to Arziel. The Charr were gathered, chanting around huge burning flames.
"I don't know. I've never seen anything like it." Arziel replied. "We don't stand a chance. We can't disrupt it, not just us two."
"Shall we go back to the wall and warn the guard?" Vahlahn suggested.
"It's a good idea." Arziel decided. "We'll need to be quick. This can't be good, whatever it is."
"I'm right behind you." Vahlahn told her.
Maialin passed Leine easily and skidded to a stop at the entrance to the city. Leine caught up, panting heavily.
"Awww,
somebody not been doing her exercise?" Mocked Maialin.
"Shut
up." Leine gasped. "We need to get inside."
"What's your problem? It's just the Charr being odd again." Maialin laughed.
"Then why did you run?" Leine said, hand on her chest as she breathed heavily.
"Well, I'm no match for a Charr." She admitted. "If one had gotten to us, we'd of been in trouble."
"Perhaps we should find your sister." Leine suggested between breaths. "She may be able to help us."
"Wow. A good idea from a mesmer." Maialin remarked. "She'll probably be up by the wall. Let's get a move on." There was a sudden sound and the two women looked to the sky. Leine shrieked, and Maialin tensed up.
Fire rained from the sky.
Ascalon burnt.
