She ran fast fast as she could through the forest. Ducking and dodging low hanging branches and vines. There was a loud roar behind her and a crash. She shot six ice arrows at her pursuer and slid into an open field, running towards a woman.
"Olra, now!" she yelled.
A wyvern jumped out of the trees and caught in a net Olra had laid out. Th wyvern struggled the best it could until a dagger was plunged its its heart, and it went still. A young girl hopped down of the dead wyvern.
"You've become quiet the huntress, my dear. For as young as you are," Olra said. "This could last us weeks. A fine catch."
The huntress place her magic bow on the table. "It takes a lot to live on this island." She pointed to the three defined lashed on her face.
"Remember?"
Olra traced the scare. "I still need to find the means to erase that."
"No need. I kinda like it. Give's me character."
Olra laughed. "So it does."
After skinning the wyvern, they cut up the meat and began to prepare dinner.
"Is there going to be a point to this story?" Julien said from behind his cell door.
"There will be if you let me finish, mister impatient," the Arisen huffed.
He sighed, "Fine, continue."
"So, after skinning and eating the wyvern, a ship came to shore and a tall man stepped out into the sand."
"My name is Edmund Dragonsbane. Now crowned duke of Gransys." He bowed. "I am the Arisen, and I have just bested the beast. I am here to collect what I had lost."
"Hail, ser," Olra said, "And just what exactly have you lost?"
"My daughter." He looked at the little girl hiding behind Olra.
"And you think she is here?"
"I know she is here." Savan knelt. "I did not want my child to raised without a parental figure while I was away seeking out the dragon. I was foolish enough to think this was a better option then the ones in Gransys."
"You are a foolish man, Edmund. You abandon her."
"I wanted to protect her."
"You left her to die!"
"And now I want her back!"
"Your six years too late for that, ser." She pointed to his ship. "I think its best you leave. Pray, have a safe trip back."
Edmund glared at Olra and his daughter as he back up to his ship. "This isn't over. I will be back for her."
Julien was taken aghast. "Your father was duke Edmund Dragonsbane?"
"That wasn't the last I saw of my father." She messed with her hands. "He sent countless ships of non Arisen to the shores of BitterBlack, but none ever made it back."
"What happen to the ships? To the men?"
"They just happen to catch on fire and completely burn to ash, to which I had no involvement with what so ever."
The both of them laughed.
She looked at Julien. "Thats the first time I've ever heard you laugh, or even smile like that,"
"Maybe because its the feeling of security I have with you, my dear Arisen."
She smiled at him. "Alixx."
"Begging your pardon?"
"My name." She blushed. "My name is Alixx."
"Time to go!" Ser Jakob commanded. "Lets go."
Alixx stood up. "Ya know, you could try to show a little compassion. Maybe then you could find a lady in your life." She turned to Julien. "I'll be back tomorrow. Same time."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
Just as she had promised, Alixx returned to Julien the following night. She slipped a box between the bars while Ser Jakob looked away. He opened the box to see if full of festive pies.
"How did you know they were my favorite?" he wondered.
"Remember that journal I stole from your quarters? You wrote some pretty interesting things in there."
He bit into one of the pies, "Don't remind me."
"Alright, back to story time." She sat in front of his cell. "So there I was, at the bright and young age of fourteen, going toe to toe with an orger who had taken roost in a cave nearby. Thats when my father decided to show up again."
He held Alixx and Olra and sword point. Every time Edmund looked away, the closer Alixx would inch to her bow.
"You will come with me at once! You had your fun, now its time to come home. Now lets go."
Alixx grinned. "Else suffer what consequence?" She grabbed her bow and aimed a fire arrow at him, "I don't see why you insist on coming back here. I'm not leaving."
"I am your father."
"You are no such thing. I lived her for fourteen years. She raised me, you did not. She taught me to survive. You did not. She was always here for me. You were not. Do the math Edmund, you are an embarrassment to me, and I'm never leaving this island. This is my home, not over there."
"But if you come with me, you can live in comfort. In riches."
"I don't care about riches, I care about Olra. She's my family. Not you."
"So you'd rather eat wyvern for the rest of your life then a feast every night and a bed to sleep in?"
"If it means staying with Olra, then yes."
"So you really rejected to living as royalty? For that woman?"
"Olra was like a mother to me. Raised me since birth. If it weren't for her then I wouldn't be here. She taught me everything I know almost. Aside what I've learned from you and Mercedes."
"What could you have possibly learned from that she-goat?"
"That hit a nerve. What happened between you two?"
"She threw me in here, much like now, and you."
"Yet you don't hate me for it?"
He smiled. "Pray, I could never hate you."
"Well it's only fair seeing as you got my father killed." She smiled at him. "Although if you hadn't have done it, I probably would have."
"Why are you being so kind to me?" He asked finishing the last festive pie. "You think I'm guilty, yet you still want to believe in my innocents."
She looked down at a thin silver necklace around her neck. "Sometimes all it takes one open person to to believe in you to change your life."
As Olra slept, Alixx awoke in the middle of the night and snuck out of the hut. Olra never let her near the entrance of the isle. As she approached the door, it opened. A grey block slab stood in the middle of the entrance. She recognized instantly as an epitaph. A name on the tab made her take a double take.
There was once an Arisen name Grette and her pawn named Olra.
Somewhere along the way, a guy name Ashe joined up and Grette allowed it.
Eventually, Ashe fell in love with his mentor Grette.
One day, Grette went off to face the dragon and only her pawn returned.
Olra started to bear the likeness of her master,
as all pawns do and Ashe fell in love with her.
Meanwhile, Grette defeated the dragon but loss to Seneschal,
therefore returning as the new dragon.
Ashe gets picked as the new Arisen and sets off on the journey to face the dragon.
He meets her, and realizes that his former mentor and love is the new dragon.
The new dragon gives him the choice as usual:
Face her or sacrifice one he loves.
However, its choice results in him losing someone he loves.
Either Grette or Olra dies.
The dragon takes that as compliance and she dies.
The sacrifice allows him to have a granted wish and he becomes a demon,
out to destroy the universe.
Alixx was shocked to the content of the epitaph. Olra is a pawn? And she was in love with her master? Was it even possible? There was a signature at the bottom, and Alixx knelt to brush it off and she was thrown back. Ten bright white lights escaped from the epitaph and flew freely down the way and into the labyrinth. Alixx freaked out, the words on the epitaph had become unreadable. She ran down the staris and through the doors. A wolf pack awaited her on the other side of the door. Using her hunter bolts, they all dropped one by one. Coming to a large room, there was a horde of goblins and dark smoke.
Right before her eyes, a huge creature appeared in front of her and shined a light down on her. After screaming at the tops of her lungs, Alixx buried her face into her knees. Waiting for something to kill her. The room went quiet. Slowly lifting her head, a man knelt in front of her. But also noticing she was in a different room. The man smiled at her sweetly and helped get to her feet.
"Are you hurt?" he asked.
"Fortunately no. Thank you."
He smiled again. "My name is Barroch. I'm the wandering Arisen of the labyrinth. A pleasure to make your acquaintance."
"My name is Alixx. I'm an inhabiter of the isle."
"I didn't think anyone who's not Arisen could step foot on this shore. Are you an Arisen my dear?"
"I'm only sixteen."
"So you're not Arisen. Curious." He scratched his head. "How did you get here?"
"I was brought here as a baby. My father, is now the duke of Gransys."
"And where is your mother?"
She looked distraught. "I don't know."
"And what are you doing in the labyrinth?"
"The epitaph. I... Something.."
"The souls free flew. I saw them."
"I need to fix it."
"'Tis but not your job. You are not nearly strong enough for such a journey."
She huffed. "I am strong enough! And I'll prove it to you."
As Alixx began to walk away, Barroch caught her by her arm, and they were suddenly back at the entrance of the isle.
"How did you do that?" she asked.
"You are strong, young Alixx. But the mysteries of the isle need not yet to be revealed to you yet."
He held our a small necklace.
"What is that?"
He put it around her neck. "It belonged to your mother. Don't ask me how I got it. One day, you will be back, and you will unlock the secrets. I believe in you."
"After that day I never Barroch again," she said. "I still don't know how he knew this belonged to my mother. I don't even know her name."
Julien thought for a moment. "Lenoir."
"You knew my mother?" She was hopeful.
"No. But duke Edmund spoke frequently of a Lenoir."
"I wish I could have met her."
Julien reached for Alixx's hand through the bars. "I'm sure she's watching over you as we speak."
"The reason why I've been visiting you, and telling you these stories, is because that I never felt that anyone believed in me until that day. Now I know it doesn't compare to this, but I will find a way to prove your innocents. "
"It's enlightening to know I have you on my side."
"You know a lot about me now, I want to know more about you. You're a big mystery Julien."
He grinned. "There isn't much aught to know. But very well."
Alixx watched him with wondering eyes.
"Having been born to a good family, I believed without a hint of reservation or irony that everything was for the sake of the people, exactly as I had said to my ruler. Such was my duty as a knight, as it had been the duty of my father and my grandfather before me. However, upon arriving in Gransys I was faced with the dirty truth, for there I met with the decadent, fallen statesmen. They had forgotten that which should have been their priority—the defeat of the dragon—and instead their heads were filled only with the desire to protect their own positions. Everything I did, I did for my people of Voldoa. And I hope that one day I can return and still have my honor."
"To have the option of going to a safe home. Must me gratifying."
"Do you not wish to go back to the isle?"
"I think living on a hostile island for nineteen years is enough. But I don't belong in Gransys. I don't have anywhere else to go."
A guard walked up to Alixx, and she stood. "The duke wishes a word, ser."
Julien let goof her hand. As she walked away, she put on her hood and mask. His heart races, wishing she could stay longer, and that's when he admitted it to himself.
He was in love with the Arisen.