Legends are not born on the field of battle, but drawn to it. Guided by the hand of fate to a single moment in time.
- senior scribe Mael Wishrune, 3 months after the first great calamity.
A lone brown wood hare hopped sparingly through the dense shrubbery of the forest floor. Wary, but complacent and unmindful of it's surroundings. Every so often she would hop to another nearby bush speckled with ripe berries still untouched by those who share this bountiful forest with her. A veritable feast for the tiny creature, and so close to her safe burrow. So much so the sent of it lingered in the air. The promise of a warm safe burrow, and the temptations of the wild berries dulled her senses and clouded her judgment. But the hare was at peace, she knew these bushes, these trees. Every pebble and fallen nut on the ground. She knew it all, and knew no harm would come to her.
The hare hopped again to another section of the bush, where the berries were darker and radiated a sweeter scent. She lifted herself on her hind legs to reach them, snapping 1, 2 , 3 berry clusters up before chewing them, letting the flavor burst in her mouth. Pleasure filled her to the core as she swallowed, satiating that all consuming hunger. She lowered herself, lethargic after such a hardy meal. She put her nose back to the ground, sniffing out the familiar scent of her home so that she could rest.
But it was not to be.
A powerful odor wafted into her nostrils. An alien scent that her body knew but her mind did not. It turned her happy feelings into a whirlpool of fear that thrashed around inside her belly and made her want to run as fast as she could. Her ears perked, her skin bristled, her pupils dilated, her back legs tensed and her heart rate skyrocketed. Her feeble senses reached out to the world around her. what she saw, what she felt, and what she heard. And it all told her of one thing.
Death
The energy in her tensed legs released all at once. Shooting her forward so fast she immediately lost her footing on the loose worm toiled soil. Kicking earth and root into the air in a mad dash from something she knew she had no time to actually see.
A shadow descended, she hadn't run fast enough.
Massive clawed paws slammed on her outstretched back, crushing her midsection into the dirt, snapping something that made her legs go completly numb.
The hare grasped at the dirt with her front paws. Desperately trying to gain distance from the massive panting creature that was causing her so much pain. She screamed, screamed for her brothers and sisters, to her mother and father. To anything that could save her, but her only answer was for the world to go dark as her entire head was shoved into the mouth of the creature. Her last thought was the feeling of it's sharp teeth closing around her neck.
The wolf snapped it's jaws close around the thin weak neck of the food, lifting it's body and swinging it left and right until it ceased it's struggle. Then he bit down, crunching it's fragile skull and letting the flavor burst in it's mouth. The wolf threw it's head back, greedily stuffing the rest of the food creature into his gullet. Grinding it as much as he could to ease it's passing. it's blood was sweet, it's entrails covered in more fat then muscle. It was good, the wolf decided.
The lone wolf swallowed the last bits of the delicious meal, Licking the blood from it's chops. It would need more before it returned to it's territory, it had strayed farther then ever this day, and the hunger was still present. The wolf looked towards the sky, the light paling, growing dull. His search for a mate would have to be continued once hed had his fill and rested, he must be ready to claim what he knew was his, and for that he would need his strength. He still smelled the scent of the pack he knew had come this way. If he was lucky, he could steal away one of the more insquisitive females. If not, there would be blood.
The wolf yawned, and then began his trek homeward. Perhaps another of the small food creatures would be found on the way. One or two more should keep the hunger at bay for another day.
The wolf walked only a few short steps before he suddenly callapsed face first into the ground, falling to his side. A shock ran up his spine in the worste of ways.
Confusion, fear, and anger flooded his mind. He tried to lift himself back up but he couldn't feel his back paws anymore. A numbness had overtaken his lowerbody all the way to his chest. The wolf growled, not that he could see anything to growl at. He did so to disuade any who might attempt to use his momentary lapse to attack him. But even as he thought this the wolf did not understand why he couldn't walk, he had felt nothing, heard nothing, seen nothing.
Suddenly, a disturbance behind him caught his attention.
The wolf swung its head until he could see in the direction the sound had come from. And what he saw made the fear he felt double and the anger triple to compensate. It was taller then him. Two legged, and holding strange objects he did not understand. What he did know, was that this non food creature had come for him. And that he would never let it finish what it had obviously started.
He snapped and snarled, his maw dripping with spittle as he tried to intimidate the creature into leaving. To his surprise, it did. He just didn't know how. It simply vanished before him.
A sharp otherworldly pain invaded his chest from just under his front left paw.
What was happening to him? where was the enemy? he did not know, and never would.
The numbness spread further up his body as a warm liquid started spilling from his chest. The world started spinning and his stregnth was leaving him rapidly. Coldness was his final thought. Then, nothing.
The air shimmed slightly over the dead wolf, the light bending in unnatural ways. Where there was nothing, now stood a young blond girl with sharp pointed ears.
This girl, this Elf, removed the thin short blade from the wolf's still heart. The noises it made as she withdrew it from the wolf's insides no longer bothering her, as it once had in the past. The elf cleaned the blade on the wolfs pelt, just as she had been taught. Ridding as much of it's scent as she could before holstering it on her hip.
"A decent kill, Gwendolyn."
The young elf girl, Gwendolyn, raised herself and turned to face the fair toned and sultry voice that she knew better then her own.
"Mother."
She replied to the air in front of her. To any onlookers, she would have seemed a tad bit mad, talking to no one like that. But in an instant, with no dicernable distortions, her mother simply appeared. There was no delay or disturbance as her mother released the spell. Such was the skill in which she weilded the ancient magik of her people.
Now before her stood the legendary ranger, a warrior of bow and guile of the utmost magnitude. Her hair, what was shown that is, was golden, her features fair and soft. Her eyes were a sparkling emerald beneath the simple green hood. Her hunting attire plain and augmented for the environment. Shrubbery and leafy vines covered her arm and leg wraps, as well as her hood and torso. On her hip was a thin pointed "Mercy" blade just like her's. strapped to her back was a tanglewood bow, made from the flesh of trees only found in her people's ancestral homeland.
It was an image she had at one time aspired to.
The elfling watched her older counterpart remove a strung cloth sack from her back that the elfling had missed on her original appraisal. Her mother tossed it to her, and the elfling caught it in both arms.
"This day marks your last hunting within the shadow of our home, little sun."
The elfling stared inquisitively at her mother, and then to the sack in her hands. She pulled loose the opening, and peeked inside. A moment passed, before the elfling smiled broadly at what she saw.
"You will need these tools to overcome the challenges ahead. A Simple wolf is no real threat. You require a more demanding foe, one that can actually think."
The elfling reached inside, her arm disheartening farther in then the bag's size should allow. She retrieved a simple magelok hand cannon, and held it close for inspection. She swallowed hard, and a shiver ran down her spine as she drank it's craftsmanship and imperial sanctioned enchantments. She put it back carefully and withdrew another gift. A smoothed and polished palm sized stone of slate grey. As she held it in her hand it grew warm, and green runes woven into an intricate spell circle revealed themselves on it's surface. These were runes the elfling knew, her mother had taught her to understand the mage speak. To use it for her own ends. These runes were a prepared spell, a trap on demand. The elfling's excitement grew, and though she did her best to hide it, it showed.
The Elfling's mood grew somber suddenly, the words her mother spoke digesting. Gwendolyn secured the summoning stone back into the enchanted bag. Gone was the glowing smile of an innocent child, replaced by the hard calculating gaze of a pure blood elf huntress.
She looked to her mother.
"Is it time now mother? Can i...can i hunt the bad ones now?" The elf squeezed the bag just a little tighter in her fist as she spoke the words.
The hooded ranger's lips curled slightly at the ends into a coy smile. Proud and amused at her daughter's eagerness, the ranger drew closer to her daughter.
"Not yet, little sun. You have many trophies to claim before you can mount the head of a traitorous dark spawn."
The elfling bit the inside of her lip. It was a distant hope to suggest she had been ready, and her face grew red as she reflected on her own words.
The ranger's hand met the top of her daughter's head, caressing and comforting her little sun in her adorable moment of frustration. The elfling bristled at her mother's touch, relishing the intimacy.
"never let the flame die little sun. Tend it, control it, let it be a tool just like any other. When the time is right, it will burn away all your enemies in blinding light." The Elfing glowed at her mother's encouraging words.
"So do not fret, i promise to bring you closer to that goal with your next task." The ranger withdrew her hand and removed a small scroll hidden in the folds of cloth on her chest, a golden seal shining brightly. She held it out for her daughter to see.
"King Edmund has given us permission to use the underbelly of one his cities as a new hunting ground. It is time for you to understand the true value of life Gwendolyn. These new targets will not be dark vermin... but they will be vermin." The smile that came across her mother's face was one the elfling used to fear, despise even. But now she understood... she understood why her mother smiled so pleasantly when she spoke of such things. Gwendolyn looked into her mothers eyes and saw her own exited, smiling reflection staring back at her.
"i'm ready mother."
"I know you are, little sun."
The sun broke through a thick bank of clouds above, painting the sky in bright golden hues, and sending rays beaming through the canopy of the forest. The pair mutually decided to silently share a moment together. Enjoying their time together a little more. But all things come to an end.
The ranger quickly appraised the positions of the shadows and placement of the sun, and decided it was time to move on.
"Come then, lets go home. Dinner's only two hours away, and we'd better not be late again less our friends worry.
The elfling nodded in agreement.
"Before that however..." The ranger said as she eyed the wolf's body behind her daughter. She moved around her to kneel at it's body before pulling out a knife and defiling it's corpse. In a few swift, practiced motions, she'd collected the tail, toung, eyes, and canines. Folding them in waxed cloth before securing them in the bag she carried on her back.
"Mordin's always looking for fresh alchemical supplies for his work. Alright, lets carry on." She said standing back up, the two setting off at a jogging speed that would wind a trained human soldier.
The elfling stared at her mother's back as they ran. It was an image she had at one point aspired to, seen as somthing to become. But no more. Now she saw it as something to surpass, to overcome at all costs. She will not fail.
*Authors note*
The purpose of this story is to explore what little there is of Dungeon defender's lore. Covering the time before the first invasion, during, and after. Then the time during and after the second invasion which takes place during the 1st game and was rebooted sort of in the second. By the end of this i intend to treat the first game as it's own event, with the second game covering events that happen chronologically after the first game do to the obvious amounts of map and character redesign that shows both age and development. In essence i feel as if i could put a little more meat on it due to it being a game i really like and the lore being open ended as it is, and the attempts of the game developers to give the game a more grown up feel gave me inspiration.
the first 3 chapters will forcus on the introduction of all 4 of the main characters and their parents. The relationships between each of them, and in turn how they interact with the kingdom at large and it's growing industrialization. after that i'll cover the beggining middle and end of the first war in another 3 chapters, each around 5k-10k long. The ramifications of the war, the power and technology of the empire, and the skill set of the legendary heroes. I'll continue in the manor until i cover what can be covered. Then begin adding my own stuff.
Peace
