Zazime Helcome walked into the library of Varrock.
Reldo was sitting at his desk, staring absentmindedly into the ceiling. These were hard times; books were getting more expensive every day, so the library wasn't adding any new ones in the near future. Even now, many of the wooden shelves scattered around the cavernous room were empty; devoid of spirit. Reldo sighed; that would mean losing a whole lot of the "book nerds" who he actually made friends with. Without new books to keep them satisified, the nerds would soon become the athletic type, and he would have less company in the future. Reldo sighed again, and looked up to notice Zazime for the first time.
"Well, Zazime, what brings you here on this fine day?" Reldo asked. "Do you want to check out a new book?"
"No thanks, Reldo. Here's the Legend of Arrav back; I just finished it yesterday and it's actually quite a good read. Good thing Zemouregal isn't attacking Varrock anytime soon!" the young man replied, shuddering at the thought.
Reldo sighed again. Less people these days were checking out books, simply because you had to pay for them now. They were free of charge before; those were glorious times, Reldo thought.
"Ah, you can't take anything for granted, but it does seem unlikely," Reldo said, taking the thick book from Zazime. "Speaking of Arrav, I heard some adventurer journeyed into the depths of the Varrock Sewers and managed to recover the missing Left Half of Arrav's Shield. The museum curator was quite happy to get it back."
"Wow, that's really impressive. Anyway, I'm off to train again. In a few days time I'll be heading to the Void Knights Outpost to see my parents again, and I wish to impress them with new skills."
"What have you been training, Zazime?" Reldo asked, standing up and walking over to a bookshelf to put the Legend of Arrav back to where it belonged.
Zazime pulled a Dragon Longsword from its sheath and held it high proudly. "I'm finally able to wield a Dragon weapon after all those months of training with my master Gerard. After I leave the Void Knights' Outpost next week, I'll be a full-fledged adventurer!" He continued holding the ruby-red sword high, allowing the library lights to gleam off the dragonite metal in all its glory.
"Great, Zazime. Now hurry along and continue training," Reldo encouraged the young man. Zazime said good-bye to the librarian and left the library, closing the door softly behind him. Sitting back behind his mahogany desk, Reldo took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. Teenagers these days, they certainly have a lot of freedom, don't they…
Meanwhile, far north of Varrock, Nicora Van Guthio walked briskly across the scorched ground of the Wilderness. The wretched terrain, devoid of civilization, was no place for young mages such as herself, but she was determined to go home victorious. Nicora had read about the newly-discovered Fist of Guthix cave, where stones of powerful energy were located in. She continued walking; as she jumped over a corpse of an adventurer, she squinted her eyes at the sight just directly in front of her. She could see the cave looming right in front of her.
Already many mercenaries have headed straight-on into the forbidding grasp of the Wilderness, seeking to acquire the stones' powers. Nicora was no exception. Such was the reason Nicolas had journeyed all the way north into the Wilderness; she desired to obtain one of the stones for herself. She was a rich kid from a well-off clan of Lumbridge battlemages, but she wasn't all that spoilt and passion for adventures burned in her blood. As Nicora was from a clan of Guthixian mages, it was no surprise to see that a bright green Book of Balance was clutched tightly in her left hand. She was rewarded the Book, a family heirloom, after besting her siblings in a "deathmatch" that produced zero casualties, but tens of broken bones.
According to reports, one of those runestones from the Fist of Guthix cave, after being fully charged, could easily power up his Book and grant him more magical Guthixian strength.
"Well, here goes nothing," Nicora said quietly. The mage had battled many Revenants before arriving to his destination; thankfully, she had not met a Revenant Dragon, because if such a chanced meeting had occurred, it would probably have ended her life. Who knows what dangers would lay in the Fist of Guthix cave? The report sure didn't say, but it did explain the radius, circumference and approximate length of each room, so if Nicora dug in the precise spot above the cave, she would land right in the stone room without being noticed. Sure enough, as the mage dug through with repeated bolts of Earth Spells, she fell into the exposed ground and landed in the Fist of Guthix room. Her eyes widened as she saw that many others had already arrived and were battling ferociously for possession of the stones.
It was quite a bloody sight. The few remaining stones that lay untouched in a pile were blocked by the mob of fighters, many of whom were being killed at this very second. The huge obelisk said to be formed in the shape of the great god Guthix's fist stood in the middle of the cavern.
Nicora slowly approached the bloody mass of fighting bodies, noting that she was apparently the only magic-user in the cavern. At present, the other fighters were either warriors or rangers. Grinning, the young mage tucked her Book of Balance away and began charging her Guthix Battlestaff to cast her clan's signature spell...
A burly warrior wearing Full Rune armor was running around, dodging arrows from his pursuer, a ranger who was firing rapidly. Luckily for the warrior, the ranger tripped over a stray rock and collapsed onto the ground, breaking his neck. The warrior walked across to Nicora, and the mage could see that the man was clutching a stone in his hand.
"Thanks young lady, I really appreciate you helping~" before the warrior could finish his sentence, Nicora cast a Claws of Guthix spell, which caused a massive green claw to erupt from the ground and grab the warrior tightly. As the claw tightened its hold, the warrior choked out in pain, and his hold on the stone relaxed. The warrior glared angrily at Nicora as the young mage took the chance. She swiped the stone from his weakened hands quickly.
"You traitor!" the warrior spat, before choking out blood. Nicora, deciding to be merciless, retaliated by tightening the claws' grip; the warrior was almost crushed by the force of the spell, but his Rune armor barely protected him. The mage, leaving the Rune-armoured warrior immobilized, walked over to the Fist of Guthix, ignoring the other fighters, and waited for the stone to charge completely. More people tried to take Nicora's stone by attacking her, but she just kept absentmindedly casting Claws of Guthix to bind them.
"I'll just wait 'till this stone here is charged, and then I'll be able to leave this place," Nicoras said to herself as she pointed her Guthix Battlestaff and cast Claws of Guthix on a ranger who was shooting arrows at her. However, hordes of people were now ganging up and had targeted Nicora, seeing that she was the strongest in the cave.
It was quite ridiculous, for a young girl clad in the mage robes had triumphed over many battle-tested adult mercenaries. Some fighters had separated from the main mob and gathered before Nicora, planning to take her down together in one last attempt.
"Get him, guys!" a warrior leading the pack roared, charging forward at Nicora before being grabbed by a Claws of Guthix spell. Using the warrior as a diversion, the others dodged Nicora's spells and were almost within melee range of the mage before Nicora found that the stone had been charged fully. It was now completely imbued with the Fist of Guthix's properties; Nicora could feel its magical powers radiating against her palm.
Nicora quickly used the Claws of Guthix to grasp a loose stone on the top of the cave. Using it as a sort of rope and grapple, she utilised the hold to drag herself out of the battlefield. Below, her pursuers cursed and screamed loudly; the few remaining fighters with bows fired barrages of arrows at him, but luckily, she was able to dodge all of them for she quickly sailed out of range for even the archers to reach.
After she got out of the cave through the way she entered from, Nicora glanced down through the hole that she had made earlier and saw that her pursuers had now split up and were fighting each other again. The disorganized battle was steadily continuing, and Nicora decided to stop watching the horror and gore. Although she didn't kill a single enemy in the fray, she still felt slightly guilty that those who got caught in her Claws of Guthix spell were now easy targets for the others to attack.
"Well, it's time to get home and test out my new power," Nicora said happily to herself, looking at the charged stone with anticipation. As she turned around to leave, a Revenant Dragon materialized out of the air in front of him. Nicoras' eyes widened in shock, barely able to register what just happened.
"Die, puny kid," the dragon grunted, and let loose a blast of fire. Without thinking, Nicora hurriedly cast Claws of Guthix on the surface of the ground. She knew that he was no match for a Revenant Dragon's immense firepower, so the least she could do was to flee. The impact of the spell hitting the ground sent Nicora flying into the air.
"AAAAARGH!" Nicora screeched as the air tore through her body. The mage clutched her possessions tightly as she sailed over the shocked Revenant Dragon like a stone being fired from a catapult. Nicora was a good distance away from the Revenant before the young mage saw the ground zooming up to meet her; the next thing Nicora knew was total darkness.