Tales of the Heart
Arc I|Chapter 1|The Meeting
"Throw caution to the wind and just do it"- Carrie Underwood
'So this is what human villages look like. They don't look too different from elven villages, at all actually.'Aella thought to herself as she walked through a small village in the middle of a dense and lush forest. She had cloth wrapped around everything but her eyes in order to hide her elven ears as she was sure they wouldn't help her any right then. She crossed what seemed to be a plaza, seeing as there were grey stones all aligned to form a giant circle in the middle of town, to get to what she had deemed to be the Inn of this village, thanks to the villagers who helped point the way.
Chris was in his room at a strange, but homely, little Inn called 'The Green Goose'. He was just staring out the window since he was having hard time sleeping this night "I've been having trouble getting to sleep lately. What is the problem now, huh body?"Chris asked with a sigh, obviously not expecting an answer so he was shocked when he got one but not from his body
"Your natural magic and magic from that bracelet thing you're wearing is conflicting with each other."A voice said, seemingly coming from the window when a head poked over the overhang covering the window, to protect it from rain getting into the room. The head was covered by a cloak so it wasn't easy to tell what the cloak was hiding but Chris could see shining golden eyes
Chris stood up and drew his blade, pointing it at the window "Who are you?!"Chris asked while taking a protective stance against the being peeking over the overhang
"Now now boy, put that thing down before you hurt someone with it! No magic either, you can't control it. Don't want this poor little town burning down do you?"The voice asked with a mischievous grin hidden by the shadows covering his face, but Chris could just feel it was there. This guy was far too happy with himself. But he knew that a figt would attract attention he didn't want right then so he sheathed his blade and looked over at his visitor
"Fine. Tell me who you are and how you know me."Chris said with his arms crossed, feigning impatience but was actually really curious for the answers this man could give him
"Haha! Straight to the point, I can understand why. But I can't just repeat your life story while hanging over the side of a building now can I? Why don't you meet me in the forest in say...A half hour? Good! It's a date then, see you later! Bye-bye for now!"The voice said before disappearing just as quickly as he appeared
"Grr...This guy is seriously irritating. But I need those answers. This is obviously a trap of some sort, probably want this bracelet thing I found in my pack. Mother must've packed it. Oh well, no time now. I have to get those answers, trap or no."Chris said as he began to prepare for the obvious trap by packing a few Apple Gels with him
"The Green Goose. Humans have green geese? I would very much like to see that!"Aella said softly to herself and hurrying in, excited to see a green goose but soon figured out that there was no such thing. Only other travelers, apparent by their clothing and giant leather sacks near their feet, and a giant hulk of a woman who she automatically assumed was the barkeep and innkeeper both. Aella walked up to her "I need a room for the night."Aella said in a gruff voice, trying to sound as male as she could while still being slightly believable
"Sorry sir, we ran out of rooms just an hour ago."The Innkeeper said with a look of sorrow on her face, sorrowful over the loss of Gil Aella was sure
"He may stay in my room then. I won't be using it tonight."A voice from behind Aella said which made her turn around and her hand immediately went for a dagger she had hidden in her coat. The mystery guest was certainly taller then she was, but not by a whole lot. Seven inches she was willing to wager. He had dark brown hair and blue-gray eyes with a silver scabbard at his hip, and a jeweled handle poking out of the blade obviously sheathed inside and a bright yellow bracelet wrapped around his left wrist
"Well alright then Chris. If you say so. Where might you be off to so late at night?"The Innkeeper said to the stranger, Chris obviously
"Oh, I just remembered my friend wanted to meet him tonight. I've got to leave now if I plan on being there before him. I'll be back by morning."Chris said smiling
"Okay, well try to be careful love, Light knows what roams outside those gates at night."The Innkeeper said with a warm smile to which Chris nodded and turned to leave
"I'll be fine. Thank you for the advice, I will stay close."Chris said and without another word he left the Inn where Aella had just entered
Aella looked over to the Innkeeper "What was that about?"Aella asked curiously
"Truthfully, I haven't a clue. The boy has been here for a month, saying he's been looking for something., Never did mention a friend though. The monsters around here are especially viscious this season, and they are normally agressive during the night, but I feel like that young man can handle himself just fine. And don't you worry, we're safe in this village. The Town Guard are no slouches when it comes to protecting this village. Just about everything else however..."The innkeeper said as a joke but Aella wasn't much in a humorous mood, she just nodded at the innkeeper "Ahh yes, here's the key to Chris' room then. It's up the stairs, first door on the right. Sleep well."she said. Aella headed up the stairs and to hte first room on the left as the innkeeper said and went into the almost depressingly normal Inn room and set her things down on the bed and locked the door behind her
"Well that was a lucky break. At least a get a bed to sleep in. Now I can finally get this shirt off my face, it makes it hotter then hell even in fall!"Aella said as she pulled the cloth off of her face and threw it off to the side and took off her armor, gently setting it against the wall close to her bed along with her rapier. She stretched out her body then sat down at the foot of the bed and looked over out the window "It's been three months since I left Suelyn. I wonder if Father has even noticed I am gone yet? I should probably write Mother a letter, telling her I am well and whatever."Aella said as she took out a piece of parchment and a bottle of ink as well as a feather and began writing
Chris had hopped over the town gate, even though that was quite a drop over the wall he found that landing in a tree then climbing down was less painful and no broken bones. After getting over the wall he made his way into the forest 'How am I supposed to find the dastard in this forest? This place is just screaming 'Hey i'm a trap guys! Come over here!' but I have to walk into it regardless. Just gotta be careful with how I handle this, my magic is a bit uhm...reckless."Chris said to himself when he seen a glint of light in front of him and figured that would be his mystery guest from before. He went over and sure enough, he could see a man hanging upside down from a tree with a newly lit bonfire below him
"Ahh! You actually came! Didn't think you would. Don't worry about, I'm not out for your bracelet. It is useless to me. Now come, sit! Sit! It'll take a while to answer your questions, I'm thinking!"The voice said, pulling back his hood, which magically stayed up even though gravity even tough gravity should've had it's way with it. The man turned out to have bright orange hair and golden eyes, his features were that of a man in his mid thirties.
Chris nodded and cautiously sat down next to the bonfire on the opposite side of the man "So what's your name?"Chris asked for a third time since he's met this 'friend' of his
"Ahh my name? Oh let's see here... Silver should do for now. I quite like how silver shines, you see. Far better then gold, in my honest opinion."Silver answered with a overly-friendly grin
"Okay, 'Silver', how do you know me?"Chris asked, still on edge in case this is an attack knowing that the moment he put his guard down was the moment he joined his fathers in the afterlife
"How can I not? The little Human mage that has been poking around looking for answers! Things like that tend to travel around fast m'boy. Plus, people in my line of work deal in the exchange of juicy tidbits such as this! So I thought I might help ya out, for free this time. Everyone gets one, after-all."Silver said in an overly happy tone of voice
'People in his line of work? 'Help' me out? Who the hell is this guy? I can't tell if this guy is acting or if he is genuinely annoying.'Chris thought to himself with a mental sigh following afterwards "So I get one question for free, right? How about telling me where to find the 'Ruins of Karzaleth'? I've been told it was just discovered recently in this area and it is supposedly from a very ancient time. Maybe it has something about humans being born with magic or something."Chris said
"Ruins of Karzaleth huh? Well you just come out of the gate swinging! I like that! It's usually a pretty hefty price, but I suppose I can give it to you for free. It's to the south of here, nestled in nicely between two large hills. Entrance should be fairly easy to find, as I hear it. But the catch is nobody knows how to open it."Silver said with a grin
"South buried between two hills huh? Got it. Thanks, 'Silver'. I appreciate the help."Chris said with a smile
"Ahh, see now that is some genuine appreciation for a good deed. That almost makes me want to quit my job. But I like gold more then smiles. Anyway, I think you should probably prepare yourself. I hear something in the woods. A lot of somethings. Ta ta now!"Silver said as he swung himself into a tree above Chris and disappeared
"Huh?"Chris asked as he stood up quickly then it all happened so fast he barely knew what happened. A weird human looking beast with white veins and pitch black veins appeared out of the thick treeline around Chris and was cut down in an instant by Chris unsheathing his blade and cutting them apart before he jumped closer to the fire with his left hand, his sword hand, outstretched towards the curtain of night hiding his foes 'I-It's those things from before! By the Light, why are they here too?!"Chris asked as he cut more down but he could see more and more of the beasts coming. Every one he cut down, two took its place in an instant "Okay. Well this obviously isn't working. Magic worked last time, surely it's going to work this time too...Right?"Chris asked himself, till not sure of himself as he began casting. His sword was pointing to the ground when a magical glyph of a fiery red color formed around his feet, seemingly drawing itself, and flecks of red mana rising from the circle and from the man casting
'Dear mother,
This is Aella, I am doing well, I have made it to the human village of 'Lushwood' or whatever. I like adventuring, it is really fun. Though I could live without sleeping on the ground, I guess you have to take the good with the bad. I have met Humans, but they do not know that I am an Elf so I don't know if Humans really hate Elves or not. I'm-'
Aella was writing and nearly almost buried in her thoughts when something knocked her out of it. A giant... well 'boom' was the only word Aella could think of to explain it. She came back to the real world to realize the chaos around her. From the window were screams, both of terror and of what she thought were orders. "What the hell is going on out there?!"Aella asked as she hurriedly put on her cuirass once more and grabbed her rapier, as well as wrapping the cloth around her head once more before running out to the main gate of the village to see just how hectic it was.
"Hurry up men! Cover the gates! They are coming!"One man on the stone wall that surrounded the entirety of the village called to the men, both to those on the wall and those trying to open the gate "Release archers!"He shouted and simultaneously dozens of archers let loose their shafts. 'Why the hell are they opening the gate if they are getting attacked? That doesn't make any sense, are Humans truly that stupid?'Aella thought
Aella shook herself out of watching the humans work and ran to the wall and climbed up a nearby ladder, making sure to stay out of the way, to see what they were shooting at "What the hell are those things?"Aella said to herself. What she saw was something she's never seen before, figures which were pitch black and veins that were clearly visible glowed white in the pitch blackness of night.
Another explosion sounded in the distance. The beings were walking away from the walls, seemingly not interested in the village at all anymore. Instead they all turned around at the same moment and began going back into the direction of the explosion as if they were all one being instead a giant horde.
"We do not know ourselves adventurer. But it seems they are retreating tonight."The leader said to Aella
"What are they Sir Bumon? And why are they retreating when they only just attacked?!"The guards asked the leader as if expecting him to answer
"I am not sure. I have never seen them before. I wouldn't count your lucky stars yet men! Stay vigilant! This may yet be a ruse to lower our guard!"Sir Bumon barked, all the Guards then stiffened and began scanning the treeline, each one hiding their fear; That something else was happening or going to happen very soon
Chris was running through the forest with sword in hand when he heard a crunch of a stick behind him, he instantly turned around and pointed his sword in the direction the sound came and his instincts took over his sword hand and he swung, deftly cutting off the beasts head before it could move to attack Chris. He heard yet another stick crunch underneath the feet of a monster
Chris looked around to see dozens of white veins in the trees around him "Shoot. There are a lot. Too many actually, I can't fight them all. I have to keep running."Chris said to himself before sheathing his blaze and took off running into the forest. He ran and ran until he couldn't run anymore. He stopped by a tree to catch his breath and his surroundings "I-I lost them. There were a lot of them, but I don't think they walk very fast."Chris said to himself then heard a low moan behind him, he turned and swung in the same moment. Cutting off the head of yet another. Chris seen that the hoards of the monsters were behind him once again.
"Come on, there CAN'T be more of you?! Seriously! What the hell are you anyway?"Chris asked as he cut the heads off of two of the beings as they poured through the trees, surrounding Chris quickly "Nevermind that. You seem to die just as easily as anything else. Come on!"Chris shouted as he took a pose, his sword pointing towards the ground and a crimson glyph appeared below his feet and bits of red mana began flowing from the glyph.
"O' explosive hellfire...Fire Ball!"Chris shouted, two balls of molten fire appeared right above his head then shot out in front of Chris as he swung his hand in front of him. An explosion erupted as the Fire Balls made contact with a group of the black skinned beasts.
Another explosion sounded from the forest which sent tremors of fear through the soldiers and the villagers, Aella however wasn't scared for some reason. "You think someone out there is fighting them out there?"Aella asked, looking at Sir Bumon who also seemed to be calm despite the explosions
"That may very well be the case. Let the Light honor their soul warmly in its benevolent embrace for their selfless sacrifice."Sir Bumon said in a prayer for whoever may be out there
"Wait, you're going to leave them out there to die?! How could you, they're saving your village!"Aella shouted and made to jump over the wall
"No wait-!"An archer said and tried to grab for Aella but it was useless as she was quick and had already made it over the wall "It's dangerous..."the archer finished with a sigh and look of worry for the person he did not know
"Let him go. Keep your eyes on the treeline, those thing'll come back once they are done with them."Sir Bumon said, he didn't seem to shaken by the fact that there were people outside the walls with the monsters. They all watched as Aella's dark figure disappeared into the black of the treeline.
Chris was starting to pant from the amount of energy he was using just to keep these things at bay "W-Why are there so many of you this time around? Come on, answer me!"Chris shouted at the monsters, but to no avail. They just gave him an ice cold stare. All of them at once. Then Chris notice that they were no longer moving towards him any longer but just standing a dozen feet away from him, staring. "What the hell's your problem now? Huh?!"Chris asked then felt something pound the ground making a miniature earthquake that seemed to have startled the black skinned beasts out of their staring stupor. They all suddenly turned around at once and again walked off into the pitch blackness
"They're gone...? What the hell is going on around here?"Chris asked then another miniature earthquake. Then another. And another. More followed suit with each of them stronger then the last. 'Something is coming. Something huge.'Chris thought to himself and looked around finally he saw it. A pair of giant yellow eyes gleaming through the curtain of darkness.
The newest beast let out an horrifying roar that shook the forest itself, the trees nearest of it broke in half and crumbled to the ground leaving the moonlight to illuminate the monster and the soon-to-be battlefield. The beast was just like the human like creatures that just sauntered off, both creatures had the same lifeless look in their eyes. Though this monster was much much bigger then the human-like ones from earlier. The darkness of night didn't allow Chris to see all of the creatures features, just the outline of his body, his eyes, and the same white veins as the others from before.
"Of course. The little guys run off when a bigger player in the game shows up."Chris said softly to himself and charged at the giant with sword pointed at the beast, its blade glimmering in the moonlight reflection
"I know that those earthquakes were coming from around here somewhere. They can't be dead already could they? I'm not too late am I...?"Aella asked, wondering now if jumping over the wall was too hasty of a decision when suddenly she heard a loud couple thuds behind her then one final loud thud. She turned around to see the young man from before was bleeding badly but was slowly standing up with his blade in hand
"You think that'll kill me? Not yet dammit, i'm still in this game. Come on!"Chris shouted at the darkness when the giant appeared once again in front of Chris
"It's you!"Aella said, getting next to Chris with her rapier aimed at the giant as well
"H-Huh? Who're you? What are you doing here?"Chris asked then they both heard the sound of wind and jumped back, dodging the giant swinging it's fist down on the both of them "Nevermind, introductions can be saved till later. Right now I have some unfinished business with this guy here."Chris growled as he charged at the giant, swinging his blade at it's legs to try to get him down to one knee
Aella was more swift then the human male was so she climbed up a tree partway then jumped off of it, landing on the beasts back and stabbing her rapier into it's back. She swiftly withdrew her blade from the giants back and leaping of of it before it began thrashing around in pain "Yeah how'd that feel?!"Chris said with a smile on his face, blood was pouring down his right arm
"You're injured. We have to get you out of here. Quickly now, run!"Aella shouted at the young man, urgency in her voice. Human or no, she didn't want to see him die
"Y-You've got a point. No use dying here. But we can't lead this thing back to the village either. So we have to drive it off, or otherwise kill- Hey. Where'd it go?"Chris asked, looking around but didn't see a trace of the giant beast
"It was here just a minute ago. It couldn't have gotten away. Something that big has to make some sort of noise."Aella said, not noticing the disappearance of the monster either "Well it looks like it ran off or something. I don't care. Let's get you back to the village. You need a healer."Aella said, helping Chris back to the village while still staying on her toes in case that thing decided to come back
"Sur Bumon! Figures in the trees!"
Sir Bumon casually walked over to the archer who yelled at him, he looked over towards the trees and nodded "Indeed. Reloads your crossbows! Aim!"Bumon said raising his hand
"Stop! Hold fire!"Aella shouted, her and Chris walked into the light where the archers could see them. They could clearly see that Chris was bleeding and Aella had some blood on her as well, though they didn't know it was Chris' as well
"It's you again. Very good! Open the gates, hurry! I said get your asses to it!"Sir Bumon shouted, the guards working the gate very quickly got that gate open and moved Chris inside. Once he looked up to see his saviors face his world turned pitch black as blood loss finally took hold, making the boy pass out
Well that is it folks! Chapter 1 is done! Finally, I know. But I kept re-writing it over and over, I have three Chapter 1's (Chapter 1a, 1b, and 1c) so that's what took forever. anyway, it's finally done! Now I'm going to write the next chapters, which should be easier since this one has a solid direction which I can only d- *cough* *cough* I mean! I already have the next chapter ALL planned out.
Anyway, if you liked what I've written why don't you save it to your favorites so you get an e-mail every time I put up another chapter? Otherwise write a review telling me what you liked didn't like about the story, characters, setting, or my horrible writing! All feedback is appreciated so long as it isn't 'Boo you suck!' fifty times. At least come up with something original if you have to be a dick :)
