Edited by The Pizz4 Guy

Punchcraft: War of the Five Armies

Summer

NorthHaven, North Mountains

The North, even during the summer, it snowed heavily. The North was composed of several mountains and few lakes; it was also home of the Mountain Men. The Mountain men were not the strongest or the smartest, but they were the bravest and the most skilled in mining and combat. It was often peaceful in the North, with the exception of the Snowmen, they hostile and territorial creatures that resided in the mountains. A trio of Warriors had accompanied the miners on their mining expedition. Unfortunately, that was a bad time to go mining.

Maxwell "Max" Tevinter had accompanied a trio of miners mining deep in the caves, one of the miners had mined into a cavern. The cavern was dimly lit; it had several boulders and very rocky ground. The miner's eyes were locked onto a circular portal that faced the ground, a trio of pitch-black skeletons poured out of it. They wielded razor-sharp and lengthy iron swords; they marched towards the miner, their main goal to replace life with death. Max entered the cavern accompanied by an archer; the archer took aim and commenced firing his arrows.

The miner retreated back as Max charged towards one of the skeleton, the beast slashed at the human, only to have Max slide under the attack and trip the skeleton. Max sprang back up and impaled the skeleton through the head, behind him a skeleton prepared to eliminate the threat only to have an arrow placed through his head. The final skeleton charged towards the archer, the archer commenced placing another arrow in the bow, but it was too late.

Fortunately, Max impaled the skeleton from behind, the skeleton let out a snarl as it struggled to liberate himself from the sword stuck in his chest, the archer glared at the skeleton as he placed a sharp arrow between the skeleton's 'eyes.' Max let out a sigh as the duo stared down at the dead being of the darkness. The portal behind the duo dematerialized, leaving the cavern completely dark.

"You okay, Noah?" questioned his best friend, Max. Noah nodded, the duo returned back to the surface only to see the dig site in complete mayhem. There was another portal, but it had unleashed more Minions of the Darkness, several bodies and a couple skeletons lay on the ground. The remaining miners scattered and retreated back to refuge, leaving the warriors to combat the skeletons. A male Mage slammed the bottom of his staff on the ground, a volley of fireballs were unleashed from the flame-orange sphere on top of his staff. The mage glanced back to find the duo of teammates just staring as he combated the skeletons.

"Your assistance would be greatly appreciated." Shouted the mage as he commenced being swarmed by the remaining skeletons, Max rushed to the aid of his friend while Noah took aim and let arrows soar through the cold wind. Max decapitated a skeleton and kicked another on to the ground, only to have Noah have an arrow pierce the skeleton's skull. Suddenly, a surge of pain in Max's chest was formed as a liquid ran down his torso; his world began to spin as it went black. Max collapsed forwards, he rolled on the ground to face a skeleton with a bloody sword, the skeleton was decapitated as reinforcements arrived. Just went Max lost consciousness.

Several hours later, Max awoke; the air was warmer than usual. He glanced around to find a nurse accompanied by Dorian, Max was in the infirmary. Dorian grinned as he awoke. The nurse left the room as Dorian approached the warrior in the bed. Max let out a sigh as he knew what was coming.

"You need to get good and stop getting knocked out." He teased

"At least I don't need magic to keep me alive." Max countered

Dorian shot a glare. "Anyways," he changed the subject "the council wants us to meet with them." Max got out of bed, his chest had been bandaged, Max put on a brown shirt and followed Dorian out of the infirmary. "What does the council want?" Max asked "If they're calling us, then it must be important." Dorian nodded as he glanced at Max. "You are correct sir," Dorian confirmed "highly important, Noah muttered something about a journey." The duo traveled about a quarter mile, injured men that could not fit in the infirmary were lying on the ground being attended by medics. The warriors that were not training with others had gone out to eliminate the skeletons and shut down the portals.

The duo arrived at the town hall; it was made of thick smooth stone bricks. A torch was hanging in the wall next to the wooden door, oak wood to be specific. The duo entered to find a wooden floor, table, and chairs. Four stone pillars supported the roof; a torch had been hanged from each pillar, greatly brightening the room. A banner of the Mountain Men hang all the way in the back of the room, Dorian and Max stood next to Noah. The council's waiting had finally been terminated.

"Ah, you're all finally here. Do you know why you're here?" said the first councilman; he was dark-skinned with graying hair and coffee-brown eyes. Noah, shrugged, Max nodded, Dorian responded with almost a paragraph like always. Much to everybody's annoyance, the councilman continued his briefing. "You are here because the Realm of Darkness has made a rift into our world; the rift has unleashed several portals and Minions of the Darkness. Many of our warriors are currently occupied fighting the invaders; we have chosen you to journey to the realm and close it."

"I would gladly accept the job, but I believe I must stay here and protect my homeland I should n-"

"You will not argue with the council, young knight. You will leave as soon as possible." A councilwoman interrupted Max, much to his disapproval. The trio nodded and left the building, Max let out a sigh.

"I hate the Council."

"I hate authority." Dorian added

"I hate doing work." Noah complained.