Beginning: Victoria
Chapter 3
Valencia, Sira, Jaimus and Zenith reach an area on the mountain with Dangerous Valley carved into a large slab of brown stone. The area is filled with the sounds of arrows ripping through the air and the clatter of swords. As far as they can see, people of all classes hack away at spawns. The corpses of boars and drakes litter the ground for miles. They walk through the debris as the stench of the slain rotting in the early morning sun invades their senses. Normally, people would find the smell sickening, but for the apprentice fighters it is an all too common smell.
Sira had trained here often in the past and had only the company of a few warriors. She is stunned at the amount of people scattered before her eyes. They wander in search of a free area to practice as a group and to test each others skills. Sira stops and watches a fire mage summoning massive flames to incinerate the bodies that lay dead. She can't help but think of it as a very convenient way to be rid of the slain.
After a few minutes of walking south they find an area relatively empty and decide to take it. They stand on high boulders above a vast area where hundreds of fire breathing boars run wildly amongst a few towering copper drakes.
"Shall we," says Jaimus readying his bow and arrows?
Together they jump off the boulder and are immediately charged by many boars. Valencia is the first to strike with holy arrow, followed by the attacks of Jaimus' arrows leaving a path of disembodied fire boars. Sira leaps onto a boar piercing its thick leathery skin and pinning it to the ground. The beast continues to struggle until she removes the spear letting the boars' internal organs spill, bleeding it to death. In the distance more teams fight and leave an enormous field of flesh and bones. The three others kill many creatures simultaneously and avoid getting struck thanks to long distance fighting. Sira on the other hand, dodges and strikes what she can, while being knocked around by the beasts. Zenith hastily bounces by bringing down the boars by the dozens with his throwing stars.
Sira goes to strike another boar but it explodes along with a few others in a flash of lightening before her eyes. A spark hits her arm and she jumps back. She hears a Lightning Wizard say sorry and watches him teleport away. She becomes a little frustrated, and while distracted, is knocked over by a drake. A claw scratches at her armor. She goes to strike it but a volley Kumbi throwing star slices through the large scaley drake, killing it.
"Careful,"
says Zenith mockingly as he runs by at great speed.
"I could
have killed it, you know," she yells becoming impatient.
She glances in the direction of her different team mates. They are all very good fighters. Valencia although small and fragile can use a magical claw attack and kill many boars without moving much or getting too close. Her teleport allows her to dodge the creatures that come to attack. Jaimus shoots arrows with impressive accuracy and speed. It sometimes seems as though many arrows are shot at once. He uses poison tipped arrows that leave the boars wandering aimlessly and loss. Zenith moves with enormous grace and speed bringing down many boars and drakes without ever being touched himself. Sira sighs and runs swinging her spear. Her swings are often in vain because her team mates or others are able to hit the creatures from far away. She can imagine that the other warriors feel the same dealing with this new competition of range fighters. Her impatience grows stronger as she is continuously showed up in strength, speed and skill. What use is she? She feels as though they all agree with Zenith's earlier remarks. She decides that she must show her teammates the strength with which she can strike down an enemy. That is her role after all, she had strength. She sees Valencia performing a quick healing spell on Jaimus and Zenith scoping the horizon for more kills. She closes her eyes and concentrates all her strength into her spear. She can feel an electrifying sensation run through her body as she runs towards a boar. She swings her spear and in a flash of orange light sends the Zeco down upon a drake killing it in one swing. She not only kills the beast…she destroys it. Nothing is left but scattered bones and blood drenched flesh….Power Strike. She goes to glance up triumphantly at her teammates when two mages bring down spells of fire and ice wiping the field clean of all boars. There wasn't even bones and flesh left to see. How could she look impressive after that? She wishes she was as strong as her former teammates. Even if she is proud of the strength she just showed, she doesn't think it's anything special compared to other warriors. A burning frustration builds up and Sira's grasp on her spear grows stronger. She angrily climbs up on top of the boulder where Valencia and Jaimus stand shooting.
"This is bullshit," she blurts out.
Valencia and Jaimus stop attacking and look at Sira. She throws her spear down and punches the stone wall. She holds back crying out in pain. Why had she just done something so stupid? She wonders. Sira often acts impulsively and usually gets herself hurt in the process. The pain of her hand only makes her madder.
"Sup," says
Jaimus?
"Sup?" asks Sira. "I can hardly get a hit. There are
people everyone stealing my kills"
"Mages just tend to have
broader attacks," says Valencia. "They don't mean too. They are
just working hard like everyone else to improve"
"Oh please,"
says Sira. "All mages gotta do is read a book and Bang! they blow
up half the island. Try training from dawn until dusk with sweat and
blood pouring down your pretty little faces."
"It's not that
simple you know," says Valencia feeling attacked. "We work just
as hard as anyone else."
"Now, now ladies," says Jaimus. "No
need for bickering. We all have our strength and weaknesses."
"You," says Valencia, "Know nothing of my
weaknesses."
"Ouch…"says Jaimus. "Is this about before?
Look, I'm sorry. It's just common knowledge that…"
Jaimus goes to continue but seeing the icy look on Valencia's face, he backs away. Zenith jumps up onto the boulder and snickers.
"Your all pathetic, helpless
sheep if you ask me," says Zenith. "So shut the hell up and stop
wasting my time."
"We didn't ask you," spurts out Sira.
They all go silent and stare off in the distance. Zenith pays no mind and returns to throwing stars at random boars on the ground. Sira has a headache and all she can think of is her comfortable bed back home. What a miserable day this has become, she thinks. She feels embarrassed for the way she just acted. She knows she tends to be snappy when feeling attacked or insulted. She wants to apologize, but her pride tells her to do otherwise. She goes to return to fight when Zenith appears at her side.
"This
place is terrible," he says…"Too many people. Let's go
elsewhere."
"That direction leads to fire drakes, we can't
go there," explains Sira. "The other diredction goes on for a
while without drakes until we reach the edge of the mountains."
"What
about beyond those rock walls," he asks? "In the areas that don't
follow the paths."
"There are danger signs all over that area
to the south" says Sira. "The dungeon is said to be not far after
beyond those peaks."
"Well," says Jaimus. "People get lost
in the dungeon; I don't care much to go there. However, perhaps we
can find some good areas just before. Shall we have a look?"
"I
would have to object," says Sira.
"Fine, stay," says Zenith
already leaping from boulder to boulder.
Sira reluctantly follows him. Perion
is her territory; she knows it better then any of her team mates. She
feels responsible for their training areas. She does not want someone
getting hurt. Valencia and Jaimus follow silently.
They arrive
one by one after Zenith on a ledge. The air is foggy and no other
team is in sight. Sira shivers as the mountain wind beats on her
back. The ground trembles a little under their feet.
"What was that?" asks Valencia nervously.
"We
should go back," says Sira. "The ground can be unstable in some
parts of the mountain."
"Heh," says Zenith.
"I'm up
for a challenge if you are," says Valencia.
Valencia doesn't want to seem like the weak and whinny one. She was very offended at being accused of weakness. She is a little frightened, but tries not to show it. She walks over to a ledge. Her dark eyes peer over the side and sees only dark shades of green surrounded by darkness. As long as they stayed on the mountain they should be alright. Valencia goes to turn around but trips on a rock. She puts her foot down hard to stable herself and feels the ground beneath her feet crumble. She doesn't have time to teleport, she is falling. Jaimus throws himself to the ground to grab her hand. He not only misses her hand, but causes the ground to crumble around him.
"Oh no," says Sira with a gasp.
She doesn't have time grab hold of Jaimus. The entire platform on which they stand falls to pieces. Her hand reaches and grabs hold of Zenith in panic. With Sira clinging he can't speed hop away. They stumble, slide and violently bounce off the rocks of the mountain. Sira tries to stop herself many times on the way down, but cannot. She tries to use her foot to slow her rapid descent, but the impact sends a bone shattering shock throughout her leg. Her painful scream joins that of the rocks and the distant screams of her team mates. She can taste blood… How far down does it go? She feels pain spread through her body as the rocks tear at her armor. Her fingers dig into the dirt in vain and as the rocks turn to trees all is dark
