Chapter One
Twas the dead of night. Most of Prontera slept, as a few late nighters relaxed around town. All was calm and all was peaceful...
Zeke and Flaink were sound asleep in Prontera castle, after a long day of training.
"I don't wanna..." Zeke mumbled in his sleep. He rolled over and sighed. Flaink snored lightly as he slept. Everything was calm.
The next day, a Rune Knight burst into the room, shaking the two awake.
"WHOAH WHAT." Exclaimed Zeke. A bit cooler, Flaink responded,
"What's going on?" He was shaken, but tried not to show it.
"Come quickly, everyone is to meet at the throne room," the Rune Knight stated. The two nodded as the knight left the room. Getting dressed and putting on their armor, Zeke smirked.
"We're in for a hell of a time, huh, cuz."
"Yeah, probably..." Flaink replied with a sigh.
"But, it's probably nothing we can't handle." He smirked back, and the two brofisted. Zeke tossed Flaink his Broad Sword, then picked up his sword, Fireblend and his Cross Shield.
The two walked out into the throne room, both late, as King Tristan III was already going on about the situation. They awkwardly found a place to stand, and listened in.
"...and it seems as though that, even though the princess has gone missing, only two other items were stolen. Those items would be the Hand of God, as well as the Crystal of Darkness. The first plan of action is to find our Princess. Secondary course would be to reclaim the two items, of course. This is a very dangerous mission, so, I will only send those who I know can manage to come back alive. Therefore, only Paladins and Lord Knights are allowed to depart for this mission. Good luck, and godspeed. That will be all; dismissed."
Zeke was pretty tight. He wanted to go save things and be a hero. Flaink, however, was pretty joyous that he didn't have to do anything for a while, or atleast until this calmed down... until he realized that he'd need to pick up the slack for the others that would be gone. Flaink sighed, but kept moving, along with Zeke, outside the castle. The two walked around Prontera for a while, admiring the central fountain, as they always did, watching the Blacksmiths and Alchemists selling their goods down in south Prontera, the guilds to the east and west, relaxing... It was a good day for the two, despite what had happened the night before. Flaink departed from Zeke for a time, chasing after a Priestess that he knew and wanted to catch up with, Samantha. Zeke was annoyed, but kept walking around, eventually settling down on a bench nearby Southern Prontera.
The thick crowd that was common in this area streamed in and out of the gates as people set off to go do their jobs, or came back with their new treasures to sell in the market. Some of the merchants were calling out to people, showing off their goods in the hopes of making some extra pocket change. Near where Zeke was sitting, a merchant was trying to sell a thick broadsword to a swordman apprenticed at Prontera castle. A girl passed by the pair, deftly pocketing a loaf of bread from the merchant's stall as she nonchalantly made her way through the crowd, the merchant still too busy haggling with the stubborn swordman to notice. Zeke noticed the girl taking the bread from the stall and sighed. What is with these damn thieves always taking things that rightfully belong to people... The girl kept walking, clearly not bothered by the fact that she had just stolen food, and certainly not knowing or caring what the Crusader standing there thought. Zeke tailed her until the two were fairly alone and tapped her on the shoulder. She turned and looked at him, obviously annoyed.
"What do you want?"
"The bread you took." He didn't cut any corners. She didn't seem in any rush. She looked him up and down.
"And what would you know about what it's like? You clearly live in the castle, so you get fed. You have to work for your food and so do I. I just do it in a different way and I do it well." She flicked his armor with a fingernail, and a sharp clink pealed through the air.
"The castle has everything, but what does it do anyways?" This kind of angered Zeke, but not enough for him to lose his cool or anything. He let out a sigh to calm himself down.
"Not much, to be honest, but I can empathize atleast. Listen, there are other ways to get food, though. You could get a job, do something other than common thievery... And the castle provides protection and many other perks. It's a very interesting..."
Zeke's voice trailed off as he saw a bloody mess of a person running in from the gates.
"Whoah." He looked at the person, who just so happened to be an Archer, then turned back to the girl.
"Come with me, I'm not done with you yet. I just have to solve this." He ran over to the wounded kid. The girl followed, eating the bread she stole, still not bothered by this Crusader, nor surprised by what had happened to the strange traveler. Zeke, not noticing any Priests around, sighed under his breath.
"Heal!" he called out, as the Archer was surrounded in a green light. After his panic attack, he explained that someone had Bloody Branched the outside of Prontera and the summoned Baphomet had been mutilating the kids out at play. The girl rolled her eyes.
"You throw thieves in jail, but not the idiots getting people killed. Makes sense.
" She sat down on a bench, chewing on the last of the bread and looking around at the nearby stalls.
"Sonofa..." Zeke shut his eyes.
"Well, alright, I'll go ge-" before Zeke could finish his sentence, a scythe was through the guy's chest, killing him in one stroke.
"No...!" Zeke watched in horror as the Baphomet jerked his scythe away, sending the body flying into a random house.
"Well it was nice meeting you, time for me to split," the girl hastily said, and deftly jumped from the bench into the branch of a tree and from there onto a rooftop.
"H-hey!" Zeke turned to the girl for a quick second, but turned back to the enemy. There was a sigh from the rooftop, and a whiz as a dagger flew at the beast's head point-first. The beast sent out a Soul Strike of Darkness that deflected the dagger, sending it in another direction. It then took in a deep breath, ready to breathe out an intense dark flame.
"Not if I can help it..!" Zeke hurled his shield at the enemy, slamming it right in the stomach, knocking the wind out of it.
It doubled over as Zeke ran toward it, his shield bouncing back toward him. He caught it, hopped into the air and shouted,"Shield CHARGE!" and smacked it in the face with his defense. It stumbled backward, into the girl, who didn't seem to have come from anywhere but had rather appeared there suddenly. She held her dagger again in one hand, and as the Baphomet blindly moved backwards, she slipped the dagger between its ribs at its heart. The beast let out a howl, but swung wildly with its scythe, intent on killing just one more person.
The crowd had evacuated by this time, other soldiers at the ready, but not many forces were around to help Zeke fight off the Baphomet. The girl ducked under the scythe with a scowl and grabbed the hilt of her dagger, muttering"Envenom" before twisting it and jumping back. It flailed about, a dagger still in its back, but then finally regained footing. Swinging at Zeke, ready to cleave him in two, the Baphomet yelled out, in its deep, throaty voice,
"Hell's Judgement..." as the girl was forced backward.
"Break the pole of the scythe, you idiot!" She yelled at Zeke, frustrated.
"Well no shit!" Zeke shouted back, feeling the same way. He guarded against the swing, then cut off the blade of the scythe, slashing the pole in two. Baphomet, stunned by this, took a step back... but then realized that he had the ability to take the entire area down.
"That's mine..." The girl muttered from right behind it, pulling out her dagger. The enemy responded by quickly turning around and thrusting the stick into the girl. She jumped up and landed on it, poked his nose, and stabbed at the middle of his forehead.
The monster let out a cry, blood dripping from its forehead.
"Something's not right...
" Zeke whispered. The girl jumped away onto a bench and sat on it.
"Well..." She agreed.
The monster, falling over, whispered,"Lord... of Vermillion.
" Zeke's eyes grew wide. His gaze shot up to the sky, as it started to become black and tear open from multiple lightning bolts.
"I hope your wonderful castle can protect us from this," the girl muttered.
"Fuck the castle, I'm thinking about all THESE people!"
No time...! Zeke had about 5 seconds to act. He looked at the girl, then at the townspeople, then at the sky.
"Shit on my life." He held up his shield as the sky tore open, dropping one lightning bolt, smashing a house, a second, igniting a nearby tree, and then a third gigantic bolt, plummeting directly on Baphomet, obliterating everything in the vicinity. A huge explosion occured, taking with it houses, pavements, everything in sight.
Author notes, from a Zeke's perspective: So. This is one out of a few I'll upload today. Ooh, this one's nice. I wrote this a while back, so I apologize if it's a bit rough... I think it captures the whole idea of "i'm the lazy main character" and "i'm the generic relative that becomes important later" within the first 5 seconds of the reading. xD
I'd like to see which of the stories gets more popularity, and hopefully get the motivation to continue them. Thanks, guys. If you're a bit confused, check my profile or leave me a PM, I'll be sure to explain a few, and post it around here. Thanks again!