Chapter 1, Verse 1- The Awakening
"Blood flows everywhere… it seems impossible to take but a step without dealing with the murderous shrieks of the attacking monsters or having to rout a unit of Knights that decide to intervene in our affairs. There is not rest for our order—our people—for we are to remain vigilant under the rule of our Lady Ariadne to ensure the survival of our already dwindling numbers.
For some reason I cannot help but get the feeling that we are all damned for following orders blindly, but I am a soldier. I am merely a unit that when combined with an army is what makes up a mass of our forces. I really do hate to do these things with no justification, but this is the only place my life and my survival are guaranteed…"
Sil'Fer Telios, Nightguard Sentinel
Sun finally smiled upon the District of Hallowed Water, where a former Knights of the Seal encampment remained, a small fort housing under a hundred soldiers of unknown forces stood. A sentinel was watching the gates, cloaked in ebon with a helmet and full-plate mail of matching hue, on his waist hung the scabbards for two sabers of virtually unmatched quality. He rested his left hand on his hip, tapping the base of the handle as he awaited his shift to be over. The floodgate opened, and another sentinel took his place, the newcomer bore a rather wicked looking halberd with an elongated spike and hook but otherwise it was the same. "Sil'Fer, are you going to be okay? The battle is finally coming to us from those damned monsters. I want some action around here, and you looked half-asleep during the last battle." One sentinel said to the one who was relieved of duty, who took off his helmet. He had dusky grey flesh and handsome features of a half-elf with crimson eyes and stark white hair. "Easy, Koail. We know not of what we're up against. The monsters have wizards, and I'm pretty sure the Knights of the Seal may attack us because we kicked their last ambassador's regiment's collective ass. I'd be pretty pissed too." The one named Sil'Fer shot back, tucking a white lock of hair behind his slightly tapered ears.
"I would too. Listen, Lady Ariadne asked me to take a few dozen people to raid the Closed Grounds in two days…" Koail began. "And you'd like me to come?" Sil'Fer finished, a cocky grin playing on his ebon lips. Koail nodded. Sil'Fer nodded in agreement. "We're competing for kills again?" Koail asked. Sil'Fer nodded silently. "All right… loser pays for drinks when we come home to celebrate?" Sil'Fer suggested. Koail put out a hand. "You're on." Koail laughed as Sil'Fer smiled smugly before shaking his friend's hand. "Hey, Sil'Fer, I left the money from our last bet in the safe in our barrack. It's in mine, you know the combination, right?" Sil'Fer nodded. "Hey, Koail! Meet me at the usual table at lunch!" Sil'Fer called before heading through the floodgates with the intent to get some much needed rest.
The young half-blood walked easily with his helmet tucked under his left arm, his hair constantly being blown back in his face from the winds that seemed to always be in abundance around this area. He reached the barracks and hesitantly opened the door, closing it slowly and ambled towards his group's room. Each barrack comfortably held four soldiers and included a bed for each, a drawer for each, a safe for each and a small closet space for each, which usually held weapons and armor that they didn't want to let leave their sight. Sil'Fer's barracks held himself, a full black elf, Koail; a silver elf woman named Lua and a human male named William Blake. William was sitting upright on his bed, reading a book, long auburn locks going over an eden headband and fair skin while covering his eyes from that angle, but Sil'Fer knew they were about as blue as his headband. He was dressed in cotton pajamas that had a white top and blue bottom and Sil'Fer noted that William was barefoot. Lua lay asleep on the bed directly across from Sil'Fer's. She had a very pretty face, pale skin with silver hair and blue tipped ears. Her lips were the same hue of her eyes, indigo her build wasn't bad for an elf, either. William waved absently at Sil'Fer.
"You got invited to the raid?" William asked. "Yeah, why?" Sil'Fer asked. "Because you're paying for my drinks, Lua's drinks and Koail's." The human said smugly, looking up from the books with a sly grin crossing his face. "You're in on it, too?" Sil'Fer asked, honestly not surprised as he walked across the room easily and began removing several articles of armor, fumbling with the clasps on his chest plate. "Um, Blake… little help?" Sil'Fer asked. William nodded and put his book down on his bed, walking up to Sil'Fer and getting behind him. "Try removing the cape, dumbass. It's easier to get to the clasps when it's not in the way." Blake suggested, removing the cape and tabard and unclasping the armor. "It's done." Blake sighed before going back to his books. "Thanks." Sil'Fer responded with a stretch and a yawn, removing his chest plate and placing his chest plate, greaves, gauntlet, cape and boots in his part of the closet. His absence of armor left him in a cerulean tunic with socks and trousers of the same color. He want to Koail's safe and worked the lock, taking out the entirety of the money and counting it up. "Seven thousand gold pieces. I knew he'd make good on it." Sil'Fer stated happily, placing his share in his pockets and putting the rest back in the safe. He put it back on Koail's drawer and rotated the dial so nobody could figure out what the last digit was. "Good night, Will." Sil'Fer said with a yawn before putting the money into his safe and locking it. "Good night, Sil." William responded. Sil'Fer hopped into bed and drifted off into sleep.
Sil'Fer awoke a little before noon. Koail's shift was over for awhile… Sil'Fer thought, sitting up and reaching for his "casual" outfit, which consisted of a far lighter version of his regular armor, sans helmet and cape. It was useless against hammer blows, and the primitive, jagged weapons of the goblinoids tore through the thin armor like paper. He reached into his closet and pulled out a wide brimmed black hat that was heavily plumed with the feathers of a gryphon and it looked rather dashing on him. The half-elf placed the hat on his head and looked around the room. William and Lua were already gone to socialize, he could tell because their beds were made. He made his and tidied up his closet before setting out to the mess hall.
He headed towards the usual table, not even bothering to pick up lunch as he sat by his compatriots. They had a grid map out with several small figurines. "So this is our plan of attack?" Sil'Fer asked, noting the placement of monsters as well as humans. "Pathetic. We need to station more sentinels here…" Sil'Fer moved a bunch of archers and cavaliers towards the base of the cliff. Koail sighed, noting the position of the enemy. "We stationed those up there for the pincer." He put his finger on the map and drew a line showing the plan of attack through the mountains. "I see… but we still need our convoy protected." Sil'Fer stated as-a-matter-of-factly. "Which is why we're only using seventeen troops." William said, stationing his figurine towards the southernmost part of the map. "I'm going to be leading a cavalier and two archers up into these mountains… then once I'm ready, the archers will begin sniping the monsters and I'll slip in with the Cavalier to join the forces on the west cliffs." Sil'Fer moved his figurine to the northernmost portion of the map. "Then I'll take over here and cut through. One man can easily slip by unnoticed." Sil'Fer grinned. Lua said nothing to the others at the table; she knew her plan already and kept it quiet.
Koail sighed. "I'll take the unit with the convoy. Two cavaliers and four archers and Lua will get the remainder of units." Koail said finally, Lua smiled and nodded, getting up and going towards the counter to get some food. "Hey, did the scouts ever return?" Sil'Fer asked. "Keep this quiet…" William said in a hushed whisper. "But our 'raid' is actually to get the scouts back alive. They're in enemy territory and are waiting for a chance to escape. That's why we're attacking." Sil'Fer nodded silently. "…So we're on a rescue mission?" Koail asked in a low voice. William nodded. "Which is why I didn't object to Sil'Fer going solo. He's the most qualified here for the job." The blue adorned sentinel said with finality. The three stood quiet.
"Matthew and Victor will also be with us." Koail sighed. "You've got to be kidding me. Those two assholes from barrack twelve that keep breaking my swords?" William spat. Koail nodded. "Damn…" Sil'Fer muttered resignedly. "That's not fair. Why are we taking them?" Sil'Fer asked. "Because they're commanding the raid. I'm just a strategist." Koail sighed. The three all looked at each other. "…Listen… those two are going to suffer death by natural causes if they stand in my way, for a sword across the neck quite naturally ends one's life." William hissed. Sil'Fer was surprised by William's anger when he was usually so easygoing.
Koail put an elbow on the table, sighing heavily. "Meeting dismissed…" He muttered. "I'm going to go to inform them. William, when's your shift?" Koail asked. "Four minutes." William sighed, getting up. "I'm going to get changed and get to my post. Sil'Fer, are you going to be in later?" He asked. Sil'Fer shrugged. "I'm probably going to train… if I see you, I'll see you." William nodded and left to the barracks. Koail left and took a similar route. Sil'Fer sighed again before getting up and leaving the table. "Great… I officially hate my job." Lua sat down across from him with a plate of assorted foods. "I miss something?" She asked. Sil'Fer merely packed up the figurines and rolled up the map. "Just a bit of bad news." Sil'Fer muttered before he stormed off and went to the training halls.
Sil'Fer promptly fitted two scabbards with wooden sabers to his hips. He stood around idly for a moment before being challenged to a quick sparring match by a young man of roughly 19 with golden colored hair and green eyes with a powerful build and slightly tanned skin. "Matthew, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Sil'Fer asked, drawing his sabers in a quick snapping motion. His eyes narrowed. This is going to be a perfect opportunity to humiliate the arrogant bastard. Sil'Fer thought with a twisted smile. Matthew had already drawn a bastard sword. The battle had already begun. Matthew swung his sword downwards on Sil'Fer, who crossed his sabers and blocked, his knees nearly buckling from the sheer force of impact. Sil'Fer brought a boot up to the sabers and knocked the bastard sword up, Sil'Fer kept hacking away at the sword to weaken his opponent's guard. Matthew smacked Sil'Fer's sabers, knocking his left saber from his grasp, Sil'Fer spun and flicked his wrist up, smacking Matthew in the face. He flicked his wrist back and bent his elbow, lunging and striking Matthew again, right in the temple, then as Matthew fell his bastard sword came across Sil'Fer's stomach. Sil'Fer grimaced, but rolled with the hit and brought his sword down onto Matthew's head, taking his opponent down. "That felt good." Sil'Fer said bitterly, dropping both scabbards and leaving to the barracks to lie down. He saw Blake and Koail, both asleep. He went to his bed, stripped and lay down, closing his eyes.
He heard the door open, footsteps enter, the door close and the click of a light. He figured it was Lua and rolled over, pulling his sheets over his head. It felt odd to Sil'Fer, that all of them were asleep before sunset…