The Origins of Legends

Chapter One

By Arizima

AN: This is a D&D story in my world, following a character I have recently made. Also, the That is all.

In the marketplace of the astoundingly large port town, an odd being strode. It was humanoid, of course, but its face was obscured by the hood of its cloak, and a short, black and gray dog-like snout extended out of it, where a human's mouth would be. The creature was wearing normal clothes; a long-sleeved shirt, a vest, trousers, and semi-soft shoes, but from the area of the trousers where the back of one's pelvis would go, a black, fox-like tail came out of a hole cut in them. The tip of the tail was light gray, and was decorated with an odd bracelet-like ornament, adorned with a large gem. The being rolled its eyes at its surroundings, and tightened its grip on its quarterstaff. The creature's hands, too, were strange; they were really more like a cross between paws and hands, and were covered in black fur. The creature looked to the southwest, where the large Wizards' university was.

" Those no-good Wizards, ruining the lives of our kind," said the creature angrily, in a feminine voice. Around her were the normal hustle and bustle of the marketplace. Suddenly, she felt a slight tug on her tail, and so, moved it so the tip was in her line of vision. Her tail ornament was gone!

" Why that little—" she growled. She cast her eyes around, and saw a halfling run behind a corner of a building, her crystal in hand. Immediately, she took chase. She pushed and shoved her way through the crowd, rather easy since it was filled with humans, elves, and halflings, and she was almost seven feet tall. She finally got out of the marketplace, and looked around for the halfling. The top of her hood moved up an inch or two as her ears perked at the scuffling sound. She ran in the direction of the sound, and swung out her paw and quarterstaff. Her staff hit the halfling thief in the back of the head, knocking him to the ground. He quickly scrambled to his feet, keeping a tight grip on the crystal. He began to run away.

" Oh, no you don't!" Suddenly, there were two pricks of silver fire in the dog-woman's eyes, as she pointed a paw at the halfling. The halfling struggled, but then a smile spread across his face.

" Hello, there, friend," she called, smiling broadly. " Would you mind coming here for a moment?" The halfling nodded, and walked over to her.

" What did you want? I do have a bit of a busy schedule," the halfling said, just as friendlily.

" Well, that crystal you're holding? It's mine, and I'd like to have it back. If you can just give it back to me, you can be on your way." The halfling happily held out the crystal to her. She quickly snatched it, and cried angrily, " Now be gone, you little thief!" The smile was gone from the halfling's face at once, but once he had looked around, his victim, with the crystal he had stolen, had already gone.

" Aw, darnit," he said under his breath. " Gotta stop stealing from Wizards." He then ran off, looking about for a new "client". Back in the marketplace, the tall dog-woman was chuckling.

" No one steals from Velana Keriska and gets away with it, no sir! Especially not a thief in a town dominated by—" she looked over at the university with an annoyed sniff. "— Wizards." Velana carefully placed the tail ornament, complete with crystal, over her tail, securing it more firmly and tying the loose, long fur in her tail in a knot right above it. " Let's see 'em try to steal my crystal from me now," Velana then leaned back against a bench, looking at all the passers-by. Time came by peacefully, and she was contemplating over whether or not to get dinner, when a loud scream interrupted the peace, followed by more screams, and the crowd was running as fast as they could from a place near the middle of the street.

" What the—" Velana jumped up to her feet, her hood falling down as she did so. Her head was revealed to be husky-like, and her black ears were tipped in light gray at the top. Grabbing her quarterstaff, she ran over to see what the fuss was all about. She found out soon enough. A gutter to the sewers was wide open, when there should have been only slits. Standing by it were about seven rat-men. They were short, about the size of gnomes. Grey fur was falling out in random places, and they wore no clothes. Their eyes were pure yellow, and they gave off a stench similar to a mix of sewage, skunk fumes, and body odor.

" Ugh. What're they doing here?" Velana said, wrinkling her nose. " Curse my Akaishien sense of smell. Ah, well. No one destroyed a menace to society just standing there!"

She concentrated, and then that silver fire filled her eyes again. She reached a paw toward the nearest rat-man. Immediately, an odd, red, yellow, and orange material that looked like unstable plasma shot toward the creature. It hit him in his eyes, and he shouted several Goblin curses as he covered his eyes with his webbed paws.

" Webbed!? Since when do rat-men have webbed paws!?" Velana gasped. She turned back to the crowd watching in fear.

" Go get the town guard! I can't deal with all of these alone!" They stared at her. " WELL!?"

" Right!" cried a blonde human. " I'll go get 'em!" He quickly ran off. Meanwhile, the rat-men were jumping at Velana, tearing at her face, tail, paws, and cloak with their rusted short swords. Her cloak was ripped, and the fur near the base of her tail slashed, but she wasn't actually hurt.

" They've ruined my beautiful tail! Darnit!" She cursed, and pulled out her morningstar. She bashed the rat-man whom she had temporarily blinded. Her morningstar connected with his skull, effectively crushing it, and he dropped. The rat-men jumped at her again, and her sleeve was ripped. The fur on her arm was sliced, and her arm was also bleeding.

" DARNIT!!!!!!" she shouted, but no one, save the rat-men, was there to hear her. She swung her morningstar into the offending rat-man, and it connected with his face. He, too, dropped to the ground. The rat-men were just about to jump at her again, but suddenly, two dropped, with crossbow bolts in their backs. Velana looked up to see the blonde man and the town guard!

" Whoo-hoo! Reinforcements!" Her joy was interrupted by a rat-man jumping up on her back and slashing at her neck. Luckily, all he did was give her a nice breeze. Thinking fast, Velana reached up with the tip of her tail and started to tickle the rat-man's feet. Laughing, he fell off, and Velana quickly whirled around, bent down, and clubbed him over the head. He stopped laughing and lay still. The last two rat-men fell from the guards' crossbows. Velana sighed and wiped her forehead with the back of her paw as she stuck her morningstar back under her cloak, in her belt.

" Akaishien!" One of the guards called. " We thank you for your bravery in helping to protect the townspeople. How may we repay you?"

" Get me a healing potion and point me toward some lodging!" Velana shouted.

" Alright! We'll do that for you!" The guards ran off, as the blonde man walked up to her.

" Yowch, that cut looks bad. Does it hurt?"

" Of course it hurts! I've been cut in the arm with a rusted short sword!" she snapped.

" Sorry." The man apologized. Velana softened.

" No, it's okay. I'm tired and hungry and want to go to bed. I'm in a bad mood." Velana unceremoniously sat down on the ground, waiting for the town guard to return. After a few minutes, they did so.

" Here you go, ma'am." The guard said, holding a vial filled with a green liquid in his gloved hand. Velana picked it up, tore out the stopper, and drained it. Immediately, the cut on her arm healed, and even the hair on her arm and tail grew back. She handed the empty vial back to the guard.

" Thanks."

" As for lodging, The Lonely Badger is down that road, near the ocean." The guard pointed.

" Thanks. I'll be on my way." Velana stood up, using her quarterstaff to help her, and started walking.

" We thank you again for your valor, ma'am. And, according to the people from the marketplace today, you had some powerful magic, that you didn't need any components for it. Your kind are always welcome in the university."

" What do you mean, 'welcome'!?" Velana shouted, whirling around. " It's because of those darned fool Wizards that my kind are ridiculed, beaten, even killed for their abilities! That wasn't magic at all! You think I'd ever use magic? Magic is useful, yes, but nothing but a crutch for the mind when it's used by Wizards! Sorcerors are born with magic in their blood, and Wizards, trying to become something like Sorcerors themselves, spend DECADES learning the darned thing! So, don't invite me to ever participate in your little university again, do you hear!?" Velana growled in contempt, and stalked off down the road, leaving the guards and the man to stare at her retreating back.

AN: Well, that wasn't so bad, was it? Please review. I'd like to hear your opinions on my story.

Disclaimer/Claimer: I do not own D&D, nor any related insignia. I do, however, own Akaishiens, the town, the characters, the plot, and anything else I personally made. Thank you.