Dark Sorcerer and the Blade of Light
Chapter 6
A Reunion
"So, we're heading west?" Iris asked as the five trotted down the road on their mounts, nearly enjoying the scenery.
"Yep." Raguna read the map, "We're gonna have to take King's Way in order to make it to the Port of Alvarna, that's the nearest port to our destination."
"It says King's Way runs through many small towns." Brodik looked down at them from his horse, "Yltira, Turine.." he read the towns, "Basiky, Ghia, and Kar-"
"Kardia..." Raguna read, "The town of Kardia..."
"We're going back there?" Mist asked, "Really?"
"It says we have to." Raguna answered, "Kardia is the nearest way point to King's Way." he traced the map's trail, "Yep... That's the nearest..."
"What's so important about Kardia?" Iris asked, seeing they were quite into the town,
"It's where we come from." Mist answered, "Before we moved to Trampoli."
"Well, it's gonna take us until next afternoon for us to get there." Brodik said, "It's getting dark, we should rest." he looked at the dimming landscape.
"Cinnamon already got a head start." Raguna chuckled, seeing the wizard had been asleep on horseback for quite some time.
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"There we go!" Mist said as she set down the fire wood, "Ta da!"
"Great work..." Cinnamon yawned, "Here..." she sent a spark of fire magic, setting the wood ablaze.
"Will you look at that?" Iris said as she looked up into the heavens, seeing the glorious cosmos shine in splendor.
"That's the Elephant Constellation." Raguna observed the pattern of stars as it floated above them,
"Did you know the ancient peoples of the world believed the world was held up by elephants?" Cinnamon said,
"Sees why they would believe in a really old Sword." Brodik scoffed, "Wouldn't that thing be super rusty by now?"
"According to the book." Cinnamon answered, "The Sword of Oracles is made from a magical form of steel that never corrodes, in a forge during the very beginnings of the world."
"Well, that answers that." Raguna said and ate some doria, "Well, who would've thought I would be the Hero of the Runes?" he chuckled as he stared at the symbols in his right palm, they still glowed.
"Maybe they made a mistake." Brodik taunted,
"No they didn't!" Mist went on the defensive, "Raguna was destined to be great!"
"That's what you told me from the very beginning..." Raguna sighed, recalling their first encounter at Kardia, "And I did become great! I defeated the Earth God!"
"Looks like your girlfriend is defending you." Brodik chuckled,
"Stop it." Iris told him, "We all know that she isn't his girlfriend."
"Stop trying to make Ramist happen." Cinnamon added, "It's not going to happen."
"You heard them!" Raguna growled in anger.
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"Well, look at that." the submissive figure said as they watched a small army of shadow monsters enter through a gate, "Our forces are growing."
"But it's not strong enough..." the cloaked figure growled, "We cannot subjugate the planet with this small army!"
"But you said without the Polonians, the normal peoples were doomed!" the submissive figure groaned,
"I never said that." the cloaked figure chuckled, "I just said that the Polonians were a major threat... Do you not see what had happened last time? The peoples of this age are quite powerful... I sense it..."
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"Another fort attacked, eh?" a centurion said as he read the report, "The Sechs 5th Frontier Guard?" he looked at the Imperial Standard of the garrison, "Do you think it was the Noradians?"
"The report states that it was huge beasts unlike anythig seen." the soldier told his commanding officer, "I highly doubt the Noradians can make those... Plus, there's been civilian rumors that the same things are happening to the Noradians."
"Hm..." the centurion muttered, "I see... We need to look further into this matter."
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"Hmm..." Raguna looked around, "Ah..." he caught sight of a familiar area,
"Here we are..." Mist mumbled,
"Raf..." Lupux wagged his tail in excitement,
"We'll go up first!" Raguna turned to his comrades, "HYAH!" he struck Lupux to signal a take off,
"RAF!" Lupux darted away,
"How impatient." Brodik chuckled,
"You are correct." Iris laughed with him as she saw the three speed off.
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"Hyah! Hyah!" Raguna hit Lupux, "We're almost there, boy!"
"RAF RAF!" Lupux barked and sped even more,
"Woah!" Mist tried to hold on tight,
"HRAH!" Raguna said to stop Lupux, who did.
"We're here!" Mist said excitedly as they stopped in front of a familiar house, "My house!" the blonde exclaimed as she ran up to it, only to pause half way.
"Oooh..." Raguna mumbled as he also came close to the homestead,
"What happened?" Mist mumbled, seeing her past home was in ruins, the windows were broken and the roof caved in.
"I guess they weren't expecting us to return..." Raguna chuckled, trying to lighten up the situation, "I can't wait to see my house..." he said sarcastically as the three walked north.
"Look!" Mist said as the passed the bridge, only to gasp at the sight,
"Holy crap..." Raguna said in utter shock as he saw his house was nothing more than a burning pile of rubble,
"Is it out yet?!" a voice called out, and two figures came out of the disaster.
"That Golden Dragon was one tough son of a-" the first figure paused as he saw the three standing by the bridge,
"Say, isn't that..."
"RAGUNA!" the third figure called out, and the four came running down, revealing it to be Godwin, Camus, Russell, and Mei.
"Guys!" Raguna said in shock as the four tackled to hug him,
SHWWEOOO!
"WAH!"
"WOAH!"
"YIKES!"
"AH!" The four yelled as they were knocked back by a light wave,
"What the hell!?" Camus yelled, "Why did you do that for!?"
"I didn't mean to do it!" Raguna said, then looked at his symbols, which were fiercely shining white, "Oh..."
"What do you mean, oh?" Godwin asked,
"Raguna is the Hero of the Runes!" Mist told them,
"The who?" Mei asked,
"The Hero of the Runes..." Raguna repeated, "I'm supposed to be finding an ancient sword to defeat a great evil or something."
"Really?" Russell stood up, "Are you sure?"
"Positive!" Mist answered, "We're going through King's Way now to reach the port town of Alvarna!"
"We were just in the mood to stop by and say hello." Raguna added, "Well... What happened to my house?" he asked them.
"Oh yeah..." Godwin turned, "That..."
"Well you see.." Camus said, "There was this big dark Golden Dragon that just arrived out of nowhere and started attacking!"
"We had to drive him out of town before he hurt someone." Mei continued, "Unfortunately, your home is out of the main town."
"Ah... So it's here too..." Raguna mumbled,
"You've seen these things too?" Russell asked,
"Uh huh." Mist nodded, "Big ugly dark things!"
"So it's not only here..." Godwim mumbled,
"Raguna!" a voice called out, it was Iris, who was galloping to him along with the rest of the crew,
"What is it?" Raguna turned to them,
"You have got to see this..." Brodik said, and behind them was a line of soldiers pacing.
"What in the world?" Camus muttered to himself as he saw the soldiers were tattered and beat up.
"Men!" Russell called out to them,
"Hyah!" the commander of the small force rode up to them, "Sir!" he said,
"Ah..." Godwin gasped, seeing they were a Sechs force,
"What happened?" Iris asked him,
"We were ambushed by horrible dark creatures." a soldier, one of the few, "Our patrol was decimated."
"Aye." the captain said, "We did not stand a chance... These monsters were incredibly powerful! Just look at what they did!" he cried, "I lost my Standard in the fray, as well as most of my men. Pray tell, where are we?"
"You are in Kardia, of Norad, sir." Godwin answered, "North from home."
"Oh my..." the captain sighed, "We're sorry... We just became disoriented after the attack.. We don't mean any harm..."
"I see you don't." Godwin told him, "Would you care for some water, food?"
"Oh, yes." the captain said in gratitude, "Thank you so much! We are all indebted."
The soldiers nodded in agreement and had the look of thankfulness in their faces.
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"So this is Kardia?" Cinnamon asked as they entered the town, "Bigger than Trampoli, that's for sure..."
"Uh huh." Brodik mumbled, "Oh, look!" he pointed ahead of them, "King's Way!" he exclaimed when he saw the highway's entrance.
"We can leave now..." Iris told the two Kardians, "Or you could stay here a while and catch up with folks."
"I think we should leave." Raguna said, "The sooner we find the sword, the quicker we can save the world from whoever is sending these dark creatures."
"I say we stay, Raguna." Mist grumbled, "We need to show our face here again..."
"I think we..." Raguna stopped when he heard something tremble,
"What the..." Brodik muttered, "Ah shi-"
"RAHHHHHHH!" a huge dragon roared, and surely enough, it was a shadow Grimoire...
I'd like to thank my Friend ShinyEvee87 for getting me back into the Single Story format for Rune Factory. Thank you!
Take it easy guys and please Review!