Chapter 2

Pain racked his body, any sort of movement was immensely painful for him. After giving himself time he wrenched himself up to notice where he was. Around him there were giant trees, their leaves almost blotted out the sun, the few strands of sunlight that lit up the forest gave the place an ominous yet calm feeling. As he looked down he noticed that a blade and helm lay in front of him, his own blade and helmet.

"Nitrum my friend, it's been a while." He whispered as he ran his hand over the blades carvings.

The blade itself was about 4-to-5 feet long (90-120cm). The hilt was about one fifth of the weapon, as the rest was pure steel. If looked at in the light the steel gave off a blue tint, a light sapphire color. The blade was smooth besides a indented line going down the middle of both sides. Towards the bottom of it overlapping steel acted like reinforcement. All in all it was a very beautiful blade, with simple yet intricate designs, giving it a personality of its own per say.

Looking at himself he noticed his loin cloth was replaced with his own armor, the armor was a very simple set, underneath was a plain white shirt and padded pants to keep his more private regions safe. After that the chainmail covered him until the top of his knees. For the chest piece the front had a flat chest, it would then slowly go down turning into a point that rested above the cod piece. The was an over lapping design as well, so Three times this happened with the bottom being the biggest, giving it the look of stacking armor. His for arms had diamond shaped steel that went over each other until the beginning of the forearm, the forearms were just simple over lapping plates. For his thighs chain mail covered the upper thigh and hip, compared to the lower that had overlapping steel covering it all the way down till the boots themselves. His helm was a very intriguing design. The top had the face of an eagle, not popping out, just laying on top of the helm. The top was supported by plain steel that had a cut in the front for his face; the rest was covered by blue cloth that was draped down until his mid back where it was shredded.

Finally remembering his hand he tore off his gauntlet to examine the wound, dry blood was covered by fresh blood that still leaked from the open wound.

"Cursed blood doesn't protect me against losing it I guess" he chuckled at his own joke.

Tearing his shirt to make a make a field bandage he continued on to find a travel trail. After treading aimlessly through the forest he came across a well-worn rode, not having anything else to go with he walked down the path.

The sounds of beating hooves caught his attention, turning around he noticed a wagon going at a steady pace. Hoping to get a ride, he stuck his thumb out trying to catch the rider's attention. Luckily for him the man slowed down, signaling for him to hop on before setting off once more.

The Rider was an old man, whom was roughly 50-60 years old. He was quite short compared to Atrimus, whom was around 6 8'.

"How goes it stranger, where you off to?"

"Anywhere really, what's the closest town from here?"

"That would be Ashlen. Quite the lovely place, aww yes I remember my first time there, my first…."

The old man rambled on about his adventures in that area and surrounding places. Atrimus just stared off distantly thinking of home and occasionally nodding to whatever the man said. He thought of his homeland, Oculus. Oh how he missed his homeland, the memories he shared with his loved ones were still fresh in his mind. Tarkus his best friend, god how he missed him, he remembered there first encounter with each other. It was during his first days fresh out of military training. Desperate for new troops, he was sent out to the front lines to act as cannon fodder. Armed with only a great sword he was to put it quite frankly, scared shitless.

"Like lambs to the slaughter, eh?" a young man had come up behind him as they marched off to the frontlines.

"At least lambs had ignorance on their sides, we walk towards the meat grinder with open arms" he retorted.

The man gave out a short chuckle in response. Happy that he had finally found a knight that wasn't as stiff as a board.

"Ignorance is bliss isn't it my friend."

"Ha, that is quite the accurate saying in this situation… the names Atrimus by the way."

"Tarkus at your service knight Atrimus" he said while shaking Atrimus' hand

That was the first time he had encountered Tarkus, he was quite impressed with his skill as well. Armed with only a spear, he would harpoon demons left and right all the time while keeping that cheeky grin on his face. That was 7 years ago, soon after their first battle Tarkus and he had become inseparable. Each would have the others back throughout any battle, Tarkus harpooning those who dare come close to Atrimus. Atrimus would cleave threw demons with his great sword and his magic not looking back, he had faith that his friend would keep his flank safe. Sent with 3000 men to go back up the 10,000 knights that defended the eastern front, messengers had sent back information that reinforcements were needed. Atrimus and Tarkus were sent out with the other 3000 to help.

There he stood, upon the corpses of demons that covered men whom covered dirt. Looking around he saw nothing but mounds of bodies. The sight was horrifying; he dropped his sword in horror and dropped to his own knees. For the first time in his life, his faith had wavered. Was this truly helping his people, or was it killing them off; he asked himself. To busy staring in awe of the scene he failed to notice the demon that arose from the bodies of the dead, Atrimus turned around in time to see the beast's club raised in the air ready to slay him on spot. The club made the descent, coming closer until it came to a halt about half a foot from him. From its chest a spear had erupted, then disappeared as it was ripped from the demons body, behind it was none other than Tarkus. Atrimus had noticed his grin was gone and was replaced with a look of sorrow and disbelief.

"Tarkus...I am sorry if I cannot give you my most sincere thanks at the moment. But im still in horror of what has happened on this battlefield."

"Think nothing of it friend, right now is the time to acknowledge the sacrifice our brothers gave to further the cause..." Tarkus had faded out on the last bit of his short speech.

"I see I am not the only one whose faith has wavered." Atrimus had just realized what he had said and turned around to apologies but was cut off by Tarkus.

"Do not worry brother, you merely stated the what was on my mind. I to stand here looking on in disbelief as we claim to fight for glory, but there is no glory here, only grief."

"Tarkus…" Atrimus had gotten up, sheathed his weapon, and turned around to face Tarkus.

"… Let us go back to HQ and inform them of what monstrosities have been formed here." Atrimus had finished.

He smiled as he felt nostalgia; the most powerful bonds between brothers were made through battle. That fact had been proven time and time again with him and Tarkus.

"Young man, were here if you were wondering" The old man had broken him out of his train of thought.

"Thank you, I bid you farewell." He said as he jumped off the wagon.

He walked through the towns market; he saw stands selling fish, fruit and other necessities. His own stomach growled, alerting him to the fact he had to eat sometime. He searched his own pockets looking for any money, coming up with nothing but pocket lint.

"I'm hungry, have nowhere to sleep, and have no money to get neither of these things."

He wondered about his own predicament, completely oblivious to the many eyes he had attracted. It wasn't every day that you got to see a knight walk through a town like this. People went on with their activates after their brief glance at Atrimus. However one onlooker was greatly intrigued with the knight. This onlooker was a Beautiful woman that had a perfect figure to her. Her Face had sharp features to them that were complimented by her black hair. She had rather plump breasts and an ideal hourglass figure. He clothes consisted of a short red dress that hugged rather tightly to her body. She was eye candy to any man that laid eyes on her. Her eyes followed him as he walked onwards throughout the town. On her face she wore a devious grin.

"Yes, he looks like the perfect target. No one knows him and no one would care about what would happen to him…"

A/N; Hey guys, I put out a rather longer chapter as I said I would. Now that I have a ton of free time expect to see a lot more coming in these next weeks. As always please leave a review, and constructive criticism is appreciated! Stay classy.