You may have noticed some heavy revisions, and the loss of four chapters. I combined a few chapters, because they were too short to stand alone, and could easily be added on to other chapters. I've been cleaning a few other things up, and plan on editing this even more, like fixing some mistakes, before continuing.
Chapter 9: The Past Revealed
"What do you mean 'no'?" exclaimed Mark. Merk and Danik stared at Urantan dumbfounded.
"Come, we need to consult Juna," replied Urantan softly before turning around. The others followed obediently, trusting their questions would be answered in a moment.
They could just barely make out the giant serpent from where they were. There also seemed to be something else there, it seemed to be a giant stone basin, a faint greenish glow emanating from it. As they got closer, they could see she was talking into it, just barely a whisper. The responding voice however was much louder.
"… an honor. We will do as you say. Yes, yes, we know. I will tell him. All right. I must leave."
Juna looked up at them as Urantan sat down in front of her. The basin had stopped glowing and Urantan could see the green liquid inside it swirling around in a perpetual spiral. The others followed Urantan's example and sat in front of Juna, bowing their heads until she spoke.
"I have just commanded the druids, is there more you seek?"
"I must ask if you can bring us to Ardougne." Replied Urantan. The others looked startled, but didn't say word.
"Where is the other one? The one who wears our clothes?" asked Juna, lifting up her head to peer at the group.
"This is why we need to get to Ardougne. If I tell you a story, will you take us, I'm afraid I still don't know if I have the power to get all of us there."
Juna tipped her head down into the bowl, submerging it completely. The surface began to shimmer, and as she lifted her head, the liquid within began to swirl into some sort of picture. As it solidified, Urantan could make outw hat could only be the city of Ardougne.
"This is the city you wish to go to?" asked Juna. Urantan peered over into the bowl, then quickly reeled back. Tears fell down his cheeks freely.
"Tell me a story," whispered Juna.
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James screamed in pain as his body went through the sensation pf being torn a part and squeezed into a liquid. After only a few seconds, he fell to the ground, flat on his back. He breathed deeply, refusing to open his eyes. He slowly lifted a hand and felt his chest, already cringing thinking of the gaping hole he was about to find. He continued to scan his chest, but felt no wound. He peered one eye open, and saw that his clothes were torn, but not a single wound was on him. Breathing a sigh of relief, he slowly sat up.
"Looks like we got a live one here?" said a voice from behind. James opened his eyes completely to see a Burthorpe soldier, claws gleaming with fresh blood. "Nice clothes. I think I'll take 'em!" yelled the man, charging at him. James just barely had enough time to roll out of the way before he jumped up. He only had the claw on his right hand, and he was tired from the last encounter. He continued to breathe heavily as he turned to stare at the man, who was surprised James even had the energy to do this, and more surprised when he spotted the claw on his hand.
"Heh, even if you use our weapons, there's no way you could use 'em better than us!" He charged again, extending his left arm. James quickly side stepped, and grabbed his arm, throwing him to the ground. He went to finish him, but the man swerved and kicked James, knocking him off his balance. James put his hands out to break the fall, and used his momentum to roll forward. He got up and turned around to face the man, who was now standing.
Neither said a word. Both of them were studying their opponent, trying to find a weak point. After a brief moment, the soldier charged again. He brought his left claw down on James, how used his own right claw to block it. The soldier attacked with his right hand towards James stomach, who grabbed his wrist and held him there. They stood deadlocked, trying to push back the other. When James could finally tell the man had put all his concentration on beating him, he swept his leg into the man, knocking him to the ground. James quickly brought his claw upon the man's throat, who coughed up blood in a fit of pain, until his body couldn't take the strain anymore, and gave up.
James said a quick prayer for the man to Guthix, and took his left claw to have for himself. Breathing heavily, he slowly walked around, trying to find somewhere safe. He had already deduced that he was in Ardougne, and figured finding somewhere safe would be hard. Buildings were burned to the ground or deserted. In the town square, the merchants' wares had been tossed to the ground and destroyed. Still, it seemed oddly empty. He figured that they had completely decimated this part of the city, and all the soldiers had moved on, except for a few who were looking for survivors. Not wanting to run into another soldier, or worse, a wizard, he found a building that looked relatively undamaged, and went inside, locking the door behind him.
He walked over to a chair beside the fireplace and fell into it, letting out a long sigh. He needed time to organize his thoughts. What the man had said worried him. He seemed surprised that James was alive. Ardougne must have already been defeated. He only hoped that when the druids got here, they would be able to take back what was left. Even if they did, James felt as if it was already too late.
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"Well, as you've all probably guessed, James was born in Ardougne." began Urantan, taking a kerchief from his pocket and wiping his face. "I too, was born there, although the location of my parents, I do not know. My parents did not mean to have me, and they gave me to a wondering wizard, who named me. My stay at Ardougne wasn't long, the man soon returned to Yanille with me, so I could study magic. Still, I always had an odd attachment to the city of Ardougne, since it is technically my birthplace, and my parents are either there somewhere, or dead.
"I studied magic a great deal, and was a prodigy. I learned nearly all the currently known spells, which I admit were far fewer than today, at record pace. At the age of sixteen, I had already begun creating my own spells. By the time I reached twenty or so, I had done a great many expeditions for the guild, and had a healthy relationship with the wizards of the wizard tower, including Traiborn. By twenty-five, I had decided to buy a home in Ardougne, and continue my magical studies there, alone.
"I would often walk around the market in my free time, perusing the wares and searching for any type of magical oddity. It was on a beautiful summer morning when I struck a friendship with James' father, Jonathan. He sold all sorts of meat and fish, and I was a frequent customer of his already. Today however, he had piqued my interest with a stone statue head lying at his feet. I approached him and questioned him about it. He said some man had duped him into thinking it was valuable, and had traded it for a large amount of food. He had not been able to sell it yet though, and was nervous that he had been conned. I offered to buy it for a generous sum of money, and we became good friends after."
"Urantan could you hurry this up, we don't have time for this!" exclaimed Danik, eager to get to Ardougne.
"Relax child," whispered Juna. "I am interested, and your friend is strong. Guthix will guide him. Continue… Urantan."
"Right. Well. As I was saying, James' father and I became great friends. I'd stop by his stall every morning, whether I was in need of something or not. We'd talk a great deal; he was a very smart man. We'd often discuss philosophy and life. He knew a great deal of history as well, he said he originally had intentions of being a scholar, but the library burned down, and with it a lot of information. He spoke with a very rural accent, he had grown up on a farm south of Ardougne, but if you got past that, he was quite easy to talk to.
"Often we'd speak of personal matters. Well, not me, but he would, and I would offer the best advice I could. I remember when his eye first turned to James' mother, Amelia. I encouraged him to talk to her, and they fell in love. I was always good friends with her after that. After a few months or so, the two married, and had James. I remember the day he was born." Urantan closed his eyes and smiled, fondly thinking of old memories. "They had planned to have another child but…well… there was a group of wizards to the north. Nasty bunch, I had been forced to deal with them before. They were devout Zamorakians."
The group shared looks of disgust, all having a natural hatred of Zamorakians. Juna's expression remained unchanged.
"The group of wizards, which at the time was very large, marched upon Ardougne. Ardougne was not prepared for such an assault, and the wizards were powerful. The city was overtaken, the survivors were forced into hiding.
"I couldn't take it, so with the help of James' parents, I organized an escape. We stockpiled runestones and herbs that could make an energy restoring potion. It was slow going, the runes were expensive, and the herbs had to be found by hand. They were a very rare sort, I forget the exact name. I taught Amelia how to make the potion, and we slowly told everyone to meet at my house, being careful it wouldn't reach the wrong ears.
"On the day of escape, everything went according to plan. People slowly came to my house, and I teleported them to what was, at that point, an open field. I told them I would meet them there shortly with instructions. Jonathan would help people find my house and keep everything moving along, while Amelia would make the potion and give me some when I grew tired. There were times when I felt like I could not go on, but she helped me through it.
"We had high hopes, until we ran into a bit of bad luck. It turned out one of the Zamorakians had heard about it, and when we were nearing the end, a group of them closed in around my house. Jonathan took a small short sword I kept in my house and tried to fend the wizards off, although he was never much of a fighter.
"We teleported the last of the people to safety, until the only ones left were James and his parents. His mother peered out through the window, and saw that two of the wizards were dead, and James' father lying on the ground, wounded. Another wizard moved in with a stone dagger, ready to finish him off. Refusing to heed my warnings, Amelia charged outside and knocked the wizard to the ground. She told Jonathan to go, to take James, and not to worry about her. He was adamant about staying, but she told him that he had to. He nodded, and while crying, ran back inside. I had run out of the runes to teleport to the designated area, so I teleported him and James to Lumbridge, as I watched in horror as the wizards descended upon her.
"Although tired, I had to do something. I took my remaining runestones and charged outside. Quickly saying the incantation, I sent a bolt of lightning at the first wizard I saw. The last one turned to look at me, before he was hit with a giant fireball. James' mother crawled toward me, injured from a spell. I told her that I had no runes, or energy left, and that more would be coming, and that I surely had not killed the others. She had to run. Instead, she took out a tiny vial of liquid, the last of the potion, and gave me the last drop. I was given a tiny amount of energy, hardly any, but enough.
"I crawled to the first wizard's body, he had nothing on him. The second had runes that were of no use to me, but the third had exactly what I was looking for. I took the runes, and made my way back to James' mother. I grabbed for her hand, and we were teleported to the designated area.
"We were cared for, and treated like heroes. The area was west of Lumbridge, not far from Port Sarim. We decided to call the land New Ardougne, since it seems the wizards stole our wit as well. We set up a new settlement and a new life.
"Meanwhile, the rulers in the area had lately been staging holy wars against Zamorakians to distract the people from their poor leadership. The people, being foolish, bought into the idea of destroying any Zamorakian thing that moved, and some that didn't, instead of concentrating on the matters at hand. Ardougne was soon taken back, but instead of letting the people of New Ardougne settle back there, it was settled by the groups that overtook it. The wizards either fled north to the mountains, or on a ship, to a tiny island south of our village. In fear of the wizards attacking us, we changed the name to Draynor, after the mansion to the north.
"Amelia had nearly forgotten about her husband and son, and after so long, was too embarrassed to visit them. Instead she lived upstairs in my house, having never remarried; she could not afford a house of her own. For safety, since she helped staged the whole move, she changed her name to Jean Schism. She was the local gossip, and often spread rumors. Most of them were about me, for my safety. The wizards knew my name, and if they found out about me, I would be a dead man. She said that I was not the person they thought I was, the one who saved Ardougne. Instead I would just be known as a wise old man.
"Jonathan never even knew the location of Draynor was the same as the very place we began anew, he presumed Amelia was dead. He changed his last name to farmer and took up that profession, always being a simple man at heart. He would occasionally make trips to other lands for business as a habit, although he hardly ever bought anything, he just missed traveling.
"The people of Draynor went about their lives, although many of them eventually went back to Ardougne, and we slowly became a smaller and smaller village. After the recent attack, we are no more, although Lumbridge accepted us openly with the encampment in the swamps. That is also the real reason why James' father is allowed to be there, he is technically an Ardougne citizen. I'm guessing Amelia and Jonathan are speaking now, together again at last." Urantan ended the story with a smile, feeling as if he had played a big part in the somewhat happy ending. The credit he game himself was justly deserved.
"Your story has amused me. A perfect example if how history repeats itself, isn't it. I have seen it time and time again."
"If history is repeating itself, then we'll just beat them again," yelled Mark confidently.
"You have a hearty optimism, that is good, just be carefully not to be optimistic to the point of foolishness. As requested, I will take you to Ardougne When you are ready, dip your head into the bowl, Guthix's tears shall bring you to your location."
The group looked at each other and nodded. They weren't quite sure what they would do when they got there, but they knew it had to be done. Urantan went to put his head into the basin, but Danik stopped him.
"You can view the city with that right?" questioned Danik.
"Yes," replied Juna.
"Then I'll go first, and you should survey the area, that way if I go and… something happens, you won't all rush to the same fate."
"You are wise, it shall be done." said Juna. Danik took a deep breath, and plunged his head into the liquid. His body slowly melted, joining the liquid, until he felt like he was in a completely different world. Finally, he felt as if he was plunged into a tank of cold water, but the water wasn't wet. He took a deep breath, but found he could breathe fine.
He opened his eyes to find that he was in a swirling sea of green. He was carried by the currents, but felt as if he wasn't moving at all. Shapes formed around him, although he hardly recognized any of them. Men and women in clothes like James' hurried in a triangle formation, weapons in hand. A being that looked to be part man and part wolf clawed at the body of what looked like a young boy.
Then there were things he did recognize. Varrock and Lumbridge flew by, although they looked different, and he recognized none of the people there. And then, Ardougne. The buildings appeared before, him the whole city towering above him. Then, instead of the images disappearing, then crumbled, and burned. A road appeared below him, and he was gently brought down upon it. More and more of the destroyed city came to life, and solidified, unlike the other images. He reached for the wall of a building, and could feel it. More and more things appeared around him, and the world slowly appeared less and less green. It stopped swirling, everything stayed in one spot. And then, suddenly, as if he was dunked into another tank of water, he was in Ardougne.
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The group watched as Danik was sucked into the bowl and disappear. Mark let out a gasp, and Merk stepped forward to touch it. Urantan pushed him back, wanting to see what happened first. The city of Ardougne appeared on the surface of the liquid, and a moment later, so did Danik. He stumbled around, as if drunk, for a moment, before he finally gained his bearings. Looking around, he finally looked up at the sky, so it looked as if he was staring at the group and shouted.
"It looks pretty clear, you can come." They let out a sigh of relief and dunked their heads into the liquid, going through the same peculiar experience. Before Urantan left, Juna spoke with him.
"You should come again, I'm sure you have many stories to tell."
"I would like to hear some of your stories someday; surely you have many of them." Juna smiled and motioned for the bowl. Urantan smiled in returned, and dunked his head in.
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The group looked at the mass of destruction around them. There was hardly anything left of Ardougne. Fires burned around them and rubble littered the streets. Buildings were destroyed around them, and corpses were lying everywhere.
Trying to ignore the carnage, Urantan spoke first. "Alright, we're here, now what. James could be anywhere."
"Maybe we should split up," proposed Mark.
"I don't think so," replied Danik. "It's too dangerous around here right now; let's just explore the city a bit." They all agreed silently, and Danik led them. They walked around the streets, avoiding the debris as best they could. The city was eerily quiet, the only sound was the crackling fires around them.
"What's that?" exclaimed Mark, pointing ahead. As they grew closer, they saw a large group of Burthorpe soldiers. They were ambushed by a small group of militia from Ardougne, holding pitiful weapons and leather armor at best. The militia charged at them bravely, clumsily attacking the trained soldiers. The soldiers expertly dodged them, and defeated them in just a few blows. Most of them used the deadly claws that they had seen James use before.
"If that's the best Ardougne had to offer, I can see why they didn't stand a chance." stammered Mark. The others remained silent, until Danik whispered for them to turn around, and find another way.
"Who's that?" The group froze and turned around to see one of the Burthorpe soldiers had spotted them.
"What do we do!" shouted Merk.
"We run!" ordered Danik, turning around. The small group of soldiers, Danik guessed twenty-five or so, charged after them. They maneuvered around the alleyways, hoping the maze of buildings would help them get away. When they reached an area with multiple directions, Danik would make a split decision, and they would follow him.
Urantan chanced a look back to see that the soldiers had remained hot on their heels. Aggravated, he withdrew several runestones, and sent two giant boulders to the second floors of the buildings next to him. The buildings crumbled and stones fell, making an impenetrable wall within the alleyway.
"That should slow them down a bit," panted Urantan, stopping to catch a breath. He looked back, and heard footsteps above him. He glanced upward and saw that on both sides of him, there were soldiers. They were running horizontally along the walls, they're feet glowing.
"What's going on?" growled Mark, withdrawing his weapon. The others did the same as more soldiers ran along the walls to get over the pile of rubble.
"The wizards have been very helpful," one of the soldiers stated casually. He pushed off the wall to jump at Mark, claws outstretched. Mark used the flat of his blade to knock the man away, and charged at him, before he was caught by another soldier tearing at his side. The first soldier stood back up, only to be blasted aside by a wall of water. Mark looked to see Urantan panting heavily, clutching more runes.
Merk withdrew multiple throwing knives from his boot and tossed them at the soldiers. Two of them were hit and fell to the ground on the other side of the rubble, while the rest jumped forward. He withdrew his sword, desperately hoping the two he hit were knocked out from the fall. He had little time to think as one of the soldiers charged at him. Merk ducked the first swipe and jumped back to dodge the man's other hand, quickly severing it with his blade. The man lifted his arm and shrieked in agony, opening himself for Merk to finish him off.
One of the soldiers took out a tiny silver disk, with razor sharp edges, which he threw at Danik. Danik jumped to the side, and the disk flew to where he was just a moment before. Instead of embedding itself into the wall, however, it hovered in place for a moment, before letting out a sharp whistle and spewing out a giant circle of flame. Both Mark and Urantan were hit by the fire, and stumbled. Mark quickly regained his senses, but Urantan wasn't so lucky.
Shrieking from the burn, one of the soldiers descended upon him from the air. He came down, bringing his right claw into Urantan's stomach. Urantan fought back the pain, and instead held the runes in his hand tightly. Before the man could take his arm out of Urantan's stomach, a ball of energy formed where Urantan was stabbed. The ball grew, until finally the energy travelled from Urantan's chest into the soldier, completely obliterating his body.
"Urantan, are you alright?" yelled Danik, who was being pushed back by two of the soldiers at once. One tried to come at him from behind, but Merk rammed into him before delivering a finishing blow.
"I… I…" Urantan fell to the ground, grunting in pain. He tried to pick himself back up, and, with much effort, was able to get onto his knees. He looked up, and saw another soldier descending upon him, falling from the sky in a dive, claws pointed at him. He fell in what seemed to be slow motion to Urantan. Suddenly he was thrown against the wall, as if by some unseen force. Urantan looked closer and saw an arrow embedded in his head. Turning around, he saw a group of archers wearing Ardougne colors. The rest fired a volley of arrows, all hitting a Burthorpe soldier. The archers knocked another arrow, threatening to fire. The remaining Burthorpe soldiers jumped onto the walls and ran, going to report to the wizards. Urantan looked closer and saw another figure behind the archers.
"Hello Urantan." said the man, smiling.
"Hello Selian."
