Legend of Heroes:

Chapter 1: A Knight's Tale -- Shar


/* A note of explanation, this was written as documentation for a
friend's upcoming RPGM2K game, Legend of Heroes. He's gone and put some
of us RL people in there, so that's why there really is a Hana and Matt
and Paul and Misaki and Shar, this following cranky mage-bitch chick.
She looks kindda cute in a bitchy sort of way with silver hair at only
15. So basically, that's not me... well, it's me, but not really me...
uh, like, an AU version of me, yea. More chapters will be up as he
slave-drives me to write more for the rest of the characters. Basically
right now it'll be a collection of character excercises until i get off
my bum to put it into a more coherent, plot-filled story, but review
it anyway. it's, i've been told, funny.*/




So like, what the???? It started out routine. Matt wants to be a
knight. Ol' Randal sends him after bandits. Do people get knighted for
these things? Gee. Anyway. Matt, big brother Paul, and the
loyal-mage-friend-(who'll-probably-die-because-of-this-'cept-mages-like
-her-don't-die-from-chasing-after-bandits) me are off. What do you mean
what's it gotta do with me? Someone's gotta keep an eye on those two!

See what I mean? You stop at a town, blink, and Paul's running off
again. Bah. It's a good thing he doesn't have a wife or a girlfriend or
something. Poor girl. Maybe that's why he doesn't have one. Did I
mention the fire? Yea. It was big as the town -- well, it was a little
town -- and magic. Strong magic.

"Shar! Do something!"

Bah! Knights! What does it look like I'm doing? Frolicking in the
field?... Shit, that girl from the village, what's her name... Hana?
Bloody hell. Some people are like that, you know? Stupid. They stand
around staring at magic fires they should be running away from and then
people who have nothing better to do, like me, have to go look after
them.

"You alright?"

Not like I really cared. Shit. If only we knew who started this...
you've got to admire him a little, though. He had sense not to stand
around and gloat.

"Shar..."

Matt. You'd think growing up with a mage he'd learn that magic isn't
the answer to everything.

"We'll die."

You've got to explain it to them. You can't control magic, especially
elemental. Only start it. Cover the whole area? It might work. It might
also destroy the town. It might kill all of us where the fire's failing
to. Or, well, maybe i'll just die. It's like, unpredictable, yea? The
ultimate game of Chance. That's why I like it.

Summon... I call upon thee, Ice, Snow of the Winter... Water, the
stormy Sea Rage... Earth-mother, the Pride of the Rock... and for the
price, as always, I am yours if you win. I dare you to... ...

*

No, I'm not dead. I wish I was. It hurts too much to be alive. And to
top it off, Matt's decided to take that girl Hana with us. Isn't that
gay. She gets on my nerves. At least she doesn't burn the food.

The Knights of Hellstom have occupied Pajilk, so Matt's like "We need
to go tell the King all this. He'll help us." Yea, right. I keep
telling him that's crazy, but does he listen? Nooo... he has more faith
in ol' Randal than someone he's only known for.. oh, all his life. We
don't need to see Randal to know what's gonna happen. Someone's gonna
whisper in his ear and we'll be dismissed. It's not hard to see,
really, that our King's name isn't Randal anymore. It's Ligado. It'll
only be a matter of time before this becomes a public fact. Paranoid?
Me? Heh. You'll see.

*

What's the problem with these people? It's running around in a tin can
all day, I tell you, they've all got their heads fried. How come we're
always insisting on running into trouble without reinforcements? Man...

"Oh my god!"
"Paul....."
"Take your friends and leave."

Paul? No, wait, that's the dark knight getup... *LOL* why am I not
surprised? People whisper all over Listenia that the fire killed him.
That's an insult to the Knightblade clan... and then, if the fire could
have killed any Knightblade, it might have been Matt.

"I don't have to explain myself to you... why is Hana here?"

Oh, sweet. Hana. Everyone's got a Hana-radar. What's it with the girl?
She's like, this useles whiney thing that oughtta be locked in a nice
little farm house and feed the hens and have babies.

Thomas shouldn't have pissed him off. Thomas shouldn't have done a lot
of things. I mean... "Paul, come back to Listania"? Of all the stupid
things to say! Pauldarian Knightblade does what he thinks is best
*shrug* you'd think he'd have learnt that. No wonder Paul threatened to
kill him. Come to think of it, Paul's been very edgy. Sometimes I wish
he'd let us help. You never know what he's really thinking. Ya know
what I mean?

*

Can we please leave Hana in Listenia? Plllleeeeeeeaaaaaasssssseee??????
You realise, of course, all this is futile. Matt just glares and
ignores me. Why is the whole world so in love with such a baggage. Gee.
It's like she's got some kind of charm-amulet on her or something. Men.
You're all stupid bastards, you know that?? Matt, who'll BELIEVE you?
You're like, a nobody and a wanted man. Thomas, you used to be this
powerful Captain of the Guards and you thorw that all away for some
impulse? Sweet. Just sweet. It would have helped a lot if you're the
frikin' idiot leading those men after us! Did I mention I hate running?
I hate running! And Hana, for goodness sake, be useful!

*

I never liked Ligado and I think I can safely say he never liked me any
either. Few people do. But he did a good turn by taking Hana off our
hands. I'd happily bless him for that 'cept Matt'd throw me off the
ship. Couldn't Hana have been more like Misaki? Sensible woman with a
sense of authority. Knows what she's doing, at least. Of course, the
men are awfully upset. Men. Hmph.

Slap me. Vermine's listening to a royal traitor. This is just an excuse
to raid Listenia isn't it, Kingie? Eh, well. Matt and Thomas don't care
and Misaki's just a pirate, ya know what I mean? Oh well, whatever. I
won't call myself the most patriotic person in the world, or any kind
of Justice-knight like the boys have began to dub themselves. I'm just
keeping an eye on Matt. Who cares about politics? It sux. we've got a
free ticket around the world. It'd be fun, almost, if Matt'd stop being
such a hang-over 'bout Paul and Hana. Let Paul do what he wants! And
Hana's probably better off with Ligado.

Although... What could Ligado want with Hana? A man like him? The
world's going to the dogs. Oh well.

*

They say that Hana is Queen. They say that the Greenleaf kingdom has
fallen. They say that Hana is an evil witch who enchanted ol' Randal
and covetted the treasures of the elves. I wish I could believe that.
It'd be so much simpler than knowing Ligado's behind all this and being
compelled to go after him. Or getting dragged after him. I should have
kept my big mouth shut. But nooo.... I had to snicker and remind them
that Hana's too stupid for any of that. I had to remind them of Ligado.
Yes, Shar, it's all your fault you're now getting hauled back into the
fray. Can we slow down? *fwap* Matt needs to learn a thing or two about
being a knight. Mostly the part about manners.

There's something about all this that makes me think we're part of some
bad bard's ballad. Like bursting in just in time on Ligado and Hana,
like all the heroing we've been doing.

"You and me lets see how good you really are."

Wall. Need wall. Need to bang head against wall. It's the tin can. It's
gotta be. Matt's finally flipped. Joy. "Now isn't the time! Matt, let's
just toast them and get out!!" Couldn't he see? He was no match for
that bastard Ligado! I forget, of course, that Matt doesn't listen to
me. None of the men around me ever do. And as usual, they get in
trouble for it.

Avram the Black Knight comes in. What the! Knights. It's always
knights. When this is over I swear I'll set a bounty on every last one
of them and abolish the whole retarded idea altogether. Gawds! Ligado
must be feeling the same frustration. He must be even more frustrated
because he actually had the power to do that. Men are stupid. What can
I say. Serves him right he has to help us now. At least he's not
kicking our ass with Avram. Thomas and Misaki were late. Makes you
wonder what they've been up to. For a moment there I thought they'd
eloped. I said as much. Knights have no sense of humour. Thomas would
have smacked me down if there wasn't business at hand.

I wasn't paying too much attention. Maybe I should. I never knew that
was Katlyn Greenleaf lying there in a pool of elf blood passing her
will to Hana until afterwards. There just wasn't time for such
niceties, you know? Thomas took charge of Avram, but you know that's
just going to end in tragedy. There was so much blood... I've never
seen Matt so badly hurt before. Maybe... maybe I should have gone into
curatives instead of elemental. Shit. Stop bleeding, damnit! You're
gonna die, do you hear me? Matt? Matt? Screw you bastard! I TOLD you!
You never listen! Neither of you ever do!

"Avram, Time to die."

I laughed. I couldn't help it. This is turning out like a bad epic.
Paul, and that old-fashioned time-to-die thing, all these
in-the-nick-of-times, the futility. Paul would know what to do, right?
He's got to... screw magic. I'm the helpless one around here. It still
came down to the men and their swords. Always. And Paul pulled his
sword on him. The Cursed Demon Sword. He was so far away, then, even
though he was right in front of me. The bloody Cursed Demon Sword. They
fought. Avram was no match. No-one was any match for the sword. It was
the legendary, the famed, the cursed. I know of it in my quest for
power. Many a time I myself thought of seeking it out. I am glad I did
not. I regret I didn't. You don't have to see his face or his eyes. You
just have to be near him, and you know... No... not to Paul... It is
good Matt is too far gone to see him.

He was cutting them down like stalks of black wheat, easily taking out
Avram's army. And they were Knights of Hellstom, not easily defeated.
You could feel it, the hate cackling in every blow, the blankness as he
cut people down. Nobody should be like this. I wanted to stop him. I
couldn't. I mustn't.

It's all my fault. Matt's dying, Paul's gone, and I could have stopped
them. Both of them. I could have. We should never have started out on
this path. We should have stayed home. We should never have come here.
I should have stopped them. There were so many chances to and each time
I just let it by. I need to do something and there was nothing I could
do. All the magic, all the pride, to nothing. For all the talk on
immature boys, maybe I'm the real child. It's over. I can't say why.
When Paul cut Avram to parts, meticulous and mechanic, it was all over.
And I? I was too weak, to helpless to do anything, even make a sound. I
wished he could hear me. I wished he could hear me asking him to turn
around and kill me, too.

And Hana came, across Matt, and laid her hand on him and the bleeding
stopped. Fuck this. Hana???? Shit... That's... that's ELF magic. One of
the greater. Perhaps one of the greatest. Greenleaf. Hana?? Shit. Matt
was gonna be okay I guess. I tried to turn away so she couldn't see me
and that's how I caught Ligado. I'd forgotten about him and he was...
"Paul!" Bolt! I missed. Of all the times! Concentrate! Ligado lunged.
Come on, come, on, just a little more... and... Viago veered from
nowhere, right into the sword. Paul snaps and runs Ligado through.

Another death. Someone important. Paul dropped that accursed sword
finally, cradling him. The world crumbled. I don't know whose, nor
whose tears I cried. Avram's dead. And Ligado. So what? Matt was
stirring around. I could feel him through some kind of deadened haze.

Hana again. Whatever possessed her to pick up the demon sword is beyond
me, but it couldn't have been her. Perhaps the elf magic in her? She
stabbed Pauldarian. Matt reacted where I couldn't. The blow to Hana was
deflected. And... calm. Bloody mood swings. It was all calm and surreal
when Paul told him to leave her alone, and set off again.

Again, I didn't stop him.

*

If you tell anyone, ANYONE about what happened back there with Paul and
Avram and Ligado and all that, I'll kill you. Better yet, I'll lock you
in the cellar. It's not a happy place, I assure you.

Hana gave Katlyn Greenleaf a great funeral. She's alright as a Queen, I
suppose. It's a pity the Greenleaf lifeforce isn't doing anything more
than giving her healing powers, though. She could really use some of
that royal grace and carriage thing. Khristine -- that's the elf with
the Greenleaf -- has vowed to seek the Holy Elixir and bring Katlyn
back. you'd think she'd learn a lesson from Paul and that demon sword,
yes? I mean, hell. Even if the elixir exists, what's there to say it's
not already taken? Or if it even works proper? What if Katlyn comes
back as a zombie? Or a vampire? Eh, well. Her Queen. At worst we'll
just kill her all over again.

We're at the cusp of a new era. I know, yea, that's bloody drama and
all, but I really do have a sense of something like that. With the
Greenleaf kingdom gone, and Hana Queen of Listenia? Gawd help us all.
Hana as Queen *lol* Vermine got their take-over without fuss. They
couldn't open the gates fast enough to welcome the King's cabinet.
"Gifts to the new Queen", he says. Politicians. Bah. At least I don't
have to take no crap from them. I mean, hey, am I the Mage Royale or am
I not? *snicker* and there's always the cellar =P

So anyway, as long as Hana sits pretty, the clockwork'll kick in place.
Listenia's not under threat for a while and all that, so that's gonna
work out for the better. Only... you can't seriously expect Hana to sit
still, especially after Paul, can you? You've gotta be blind and deaf
to. Always Paul this, Paul that. It's just a mater of time before she
gets over her top and go off after him. I'm okay. I don't have to
listen to her. But Matt. Matt's her knight. So like Queenie says
"jump", Knightie go "how high". The whole tin-can business they call
knighthood is irrevokably screwed. You'll see. She's gonna exert the
royal decree if she has to, and then it's off haring all over the place
again. Some women don't get a hint. He doesn't WANT to be found, yea?
Whatever have I done to deserve this? But, screw. Someone's gotta look
out for Matt. When we find Paul, I'm so gonna give him a piece of my
mind. It's all his fault, he and that dumbass little brother of his and
those high ideas about chivalry, honour and knighthood. I'll... I don't
know what I'll do, but I'll think of something. Never you worry.


===Go To Chapter 2 ==