NationStates Jolt Archive

Prologue

Dark days had befallen upon the lands of Linguna. Dark days of war and desctruction. Dark hours of blood and tears. The Forellian Empire, with its vast and seemingly endless armies, invade the Kingdoms of the Calean Corridor. Seeking assistance from the Lingunan Kingdoms, the Caleans were turned down, as the Lingunans saw it was none of their concern. Ten years had passed when the last of the Caleans had fallen before the might of the Forellian Hordes and tensions between the Empire and Roan had grew. Finally border skirmishes grew into outright bloodbaths, resulting in a full scale invasion by the Empire against Roan. Although the Roans were initially caught by surprise, they soon reorganized themselves and stopped the Forellian hordes, but just barely.

King Zander Roan III sent out a call for assistance to the other kingdoms. Recognizing the common threat that the Empire imposes, the Kingdoms of Daven and Severail immediately sent aide to the beleaguered Roan. With Daven shoring up better defenses with their superb engineers and musketmen, and with Severail, with its gallant armadas, blockade nearby ports, cutting into the supply lines of the great Forellian hordes.

Now fifty years had passed. Destruction reigns supreme across the landscape, where grassy meadows are now replaced with body-laden wastelands, where rivers flowed peacefully through valleys are now raging torrents of blood amidst hell. The Roans grow weary as each day the Forellians constantly send wave after wave at them, whittling down their defenses and manpower. All has changed however, as each of the Kingdoms of Linguna bolster the war effort and rally their troops in Roan. Now was the time to strike back at the careless giant, now was the time to rid Roan of the filth that defiled its very lands and caused the very suffering of its people. The Alliance was complete.

The Knighthood of Roan were the vanguard of this counteroffensive, striking into the heart of the horde, cutting off whole divisions from their supplies and the main force, which were eventually annihilated by the combined armies of the Lingunans. Eventually they would reclaim a fortress near the town of Elias, about a few miles away.

Chapter I

Several days later, the town of Elias came under siege by a warband of Forellian cavalry. People began screaming and running as they were cut down by their swords and axes. A mother ran for cover, with her small child, hiding under a wagon watching as her friend was bludgeoned to death by a marauding horseman. She gasped in horror, covering her mouth to guise it. It was too late however as the horseman flipped the wagon over and revealed the two underneath. He rose his mighty axe in the air and slashed down at them. The mother covered her beloved child with her body, taking the full blow of the axe. The child looked at the face of his mother, horrified with what his eyes had seen. The mother slumped to the side into the child's arms, as the horseman laughed as he raised his axe once more. The child stared into the eyes of the man, frozen in time. Suddenly the horseman was called to the side by a superior. He looked at the child, "Today is your lucky day boy," then rode off.

The child looked at his mother who was pale and coughing up blood. She barely opened her eyes and started to speak, barely getting words out. "Go my...child, run to...the woods."

"No, I want to stay with you!"

"You...must...go, leave...do it for...me..."

"Mother!"

"I...love...you...Orelas..."

"MOTHER! I love you too, don't...leave me." Orelas looked into his mothers eyes as it turned into a cold stare, tears running down his cheeks. Shutting her eyes and taking her last breath she died in Orelas' arms. He quickly got up and started to run, tears running down his face vehemently. As he made his way into the forest, one can look back at the town for miles away as the fires glowed intensely into the night sky.

In the morning a scouting party led by the High Knight Lyam Reed, was sent to investigate the inferno that raged in the area. Finding the place of origin, Reed knelt down to the ground, which was covered in charred ember and other such debris from what was left of the town, "Damn..."

"What is it?" asked Kel, a fellow knight.

"These tracks are by cavalry, it seems they razed Elias. We need to inform the Duke with haste."

"My lord! Over here!" one of the soldiers yelled from a distance barely being heard by the two knights standing in once was the town square.

Mounting their horses they rode to where the soldier was standing, as he waved at them and pointed down near a tree stump. The look of concern had dominated his face, as Reed and Kel were a bit perplexed as they dismounted, "What is it Logan?" Reed asked.

"My lord their seems to be a survivor," Logan guided the two over to a rather large and mossy tree stump. There they found a small child sleeping against it, his face blackened with dirt, while his hands and garments were stained with dry blood. The child began to moan and open his eyes slowly, revealing to himself three figures standing before him, until it sharpened so he could clearly see the three men. Shocked and dismayed he began to crawl back against the stump hastily breathing heavily.

"Its...its alright, we're not going to harm you."

The child began to shake his head intensely not believing a single word they were saying. Reed knew that words were not going to get anywhere with this already scarred child. What horrors could he have witnessed, was the thought that race through Reed's mind. He then walked over to his horse and reached into his saddlebag, grabbing a box. He came back with the box and knelt before the child once again. He opened the box, a light tune could be heard as the child looked at the it. Inside a figurine was dancing to the music. "You like it?"

"Yes..." the child muttered.

"It was a memento from my dear wife. When I lose hope, I listen to that tune, and remember her and do my best to protect her, and fight on."

"Are you, from the north?" the child asked.

"Yes,"

"I see..."

"Come with us," he asked,"you'll be safer with us than out in the wilderness."

The child nodded and took Reed's hand to raise himself from the ground. Reed lifted him up unto his steed and mounted himself afterward. After a couple of miles of riding through the woods, Reed asked a question, "What's your name?"

"My name?"

"You do have a name, don't you?"

"Its Orelas Bannon."

A mighty axe began to strike a woman down to the ground, to which it was held by a man on a frightening mount that was black as night with fiery red eyes. The man, wearing the most hellish of armor, looked over at a small boy and began to steer towards him, riding with the utmost hatred in his eyes, flailing the axe towards him. Orelas had suddenly awakened from this nightmare, breathing heavily as he looked around. Then he suddenly remembered that he was riding with someone, as he found his head was rested on that very someone's back. He looked around once more, not gaining much visibility, as a heavy fog began to settle over the land. He could barely see the torchlight from the other men riding. Then as he panned upward, he had found light in the sky. Pondering as how such an occurrence is happening he tugged on the man's shirt, "What is that light in the sky?" he pointed.

"That is not in the sky, my young friend." Reed replied.

"Huh?"

"You shall soon see."

Orelas looked at Reed with an utmost perplexity as the group continued to ride on until they came upon a a rather rocky area with a few dead trees covering it. Out from the rocks came about six men carrying crossbows aiming them at the scouting party. Orelas ducked behind Reed, afraid that they were the same men that razed his village and brutally slaughtered his dear mother in front of his very eyes. "Who goes there!?"

"Sir Reed of Roan."

"The password?" as he rose his crossbow towards Reed.

"Sidt'he."

The guard looked both ways watching for anyone suspicious. He waved his hand stepping aside, "Alright you may pass."

The scouting party began to follow a rocky path, barely visible due to the thick fog of the night. Orelas noticed that they were indeed elevating as he barely see that the the horses' hind legs were lower than that of the ones in front. "Are we going up?"

"Yes, we are my friend."

Several minutes later the group began to suddenly pierce through the fog as they rode up what appeared to be a winding trail. Orelas looked around to his amazement to find they were riding up a mountain this whole time as he looked up towards a dark and ominous structure that he barely could make out as the torchlight blind his view. "Hey whats that?" he pointed towards it.

"Our destination. The lights in the sky as you called them."

"Really? It was on top of a mountain?"

"Yes. In fact look around you." Reed pointed towards the horizon. Orelas saw the fog that covered the land as they continued their trek upwards to the structure. It astounded the young boy to see an ocean of clouds covering the forest they rode through. He felt like he had gone to heaven, wondering if he could meet his mother again, to which he silently cried. "What is wrong?" Reed concerned that his new friend was pouring tears like a fountain.

"I was thinking of my mother, how she...died."

"I am deeply sorry for your loss Orelas, I wish...I wish we had come sooner. Maybe I could have saved your village."

"Why didn't you?! Why didn't you come?!" Orelas yelled out, tears still rolling down his cheek.

"Its...its complicated. We got held up by weather and hunting enemy scouts. We couldn't really afford for us to be spotted. If we had known then that a warband was going to attack the village we would have rode their with all due haste.

"I...I...just..miss my...mother."

"I know, but so do all the children who lost their mothers in this war. So do those very mothers who mourn for their sons. I know that this has been very shocking to you Orelas, but I believe what your mother would want you to do is try to move on."

At that instant, Orelas closed his eyes and remembered his mother's words at the time of her death. "You...must...go, leave...do it for...me..." her eyes showed a glimmer of hope for her son as they slowly faded to death's hands. He quickly opened his eyes to see that the group halted and was finally at their final destination. He looked up towards the gigantic wooden doors, then to the dark and ominous structure that he had noted in his memory. The stone was almost as dark as the night sky, protruding out battlements. On the two sides of the rather large doors sat two large stone beasts that would have frightened him if he had not seen death up close. A man stood over them with two others flanking him. He turned his attention downwards towards the scouting party, "Why Sir Reed, it is nice to see you once again my friend." he turned his head to the side looking downwards behind the battlement, "OPEN THE GATES!" he yelled.

The large wooden doors creaked and roared as they began to open. Pounding from the large winches could be heard from Orela's side. Reed rode his steed forward at the slightest bit of an opening began to form. The party entered into the structure, as the horses feet began to clop on the stone floor. Reed dismounted his horse, as well as the rest of the party, as stablemen hurriedly rushed over handling their steeds. The very man that stood over them walked down some stairs, with the two flanking him about two steps behind him. He was a sort of rugged man, adorn in some sort of ceremonial armor (http://wiki.guildwars.com/images/4/4c/Warrior_Elite_Templar_armor_m.jpg), but it seemed worn, as if it had been in battle several times. A crest was bestowed upon the breast plate as the head piece seemed to be a cross of a helm with a crown. The man walked over taking off the helm, and met with Reed. Orelas, who was standing behind Reed's leg, peered over him to view the man, of whom Reed saluted with a simple arm thrust across his chest. "Sir,"

The man answered with the very salute that Reed had performed, Orelas was a bit confused as to why they were doing such things as it made them look sort of funny to him. "Why Sir Reed, why the long face?"

"Sir, Elias has been completely destroyed."

"What?! Was it Forellian?"

"Indeed it was sir. It seems a warband was sent out as a forward scouting party. They came upon the town and razed it like the barbarians they are."

"My gods..." the man looked up then noticed Orelas with the corner of his eye. He looked down and knelt to the level of the young boy's eyes. "Who might you be?" he asked.

Orelas peered over Reed again, looking briefly at the man, before hiding behind Reed's leg again. "Hes the only survivor of the town. We found him in the woods hiding. We, sadly, found no one else."

The man looked up and nodded "I see." He looked back at Orelas, "By chance what is your name?"

"Orelas...Bannon."

The man stood up, "Well Sir Bannon, I am Duke Akzurius Mytagan. Leader of the 5th Vanguard of the Knighthood of Roan. I welcome you to my fortress and invite you to stay."

"Alright."

"Alright. Reed, your quarters are ready, take this young lad with you."

"Yes sir." Reed saluted.

"May your stay be comfortable, young Orelas," he nodded at the young boy who answered with the same. Orelas began to follow Reed, ensuring not to trail too far behind the High Knight. Mytagan took his hand to his chin, "Hmm."

Footsteps began to echo in the distance of the dark corridor, a distant light glowing brighter and closer. Pieces of the armor can be heard clinking with each step, as the steps drew near. Suddenly a door can be heard, creaking ajar, with a loud thud of the door hitting the wall. A woman placed the torch on the mantle of above the door, curtsied to Reed and Orelas. "Your room is ready, mi'lord. Please, by the grace of Duke Mytagan, have a well deserved rest."

"Thank you, my good lady," Reed smiled. He peered behind him to see Orelas already lying in the bed, under the covers, sound asleep. Reed let out a heavy sigh and sat down at the table. Grabbed the bottle, "This is not a good year..."

"All I could come up with I'm afraid..." a figure shrugged in the darkness. Reed drew his sword and pointed at the lone figure. "Hey now! Is that anyway to treat your old love!" she walked out into the light to reveal herself.

Reed sheathed his sword, "Tolena... I should have known."

"Lyam, Lyam, Lyam... you should really need to work on your manners towards the fairer sex."

"Oh so you do count as a woman?"

"Watch it! You might find yourself missing that little dagger someday."

Reed winced, "Ouch, you're cold. What the hell brings you here anyways?"

"Just a visit to an old friend is all!"

"Right..." Reed narrowed his eyes.

Tolena sat down across the table, the back side of the chair nestling against her bosom. She grabbed the bottle and poured Reed and her a glass. Reed took the glass swirled it around, narrowing his eyes at the green liquid, "This isn't poison is it?"

Tolena giggled, "Don't be silly, Lyam," she hit back a swig of the stuff, "Smooth," a smiled creased her lips.

"I see," sipping at it, then nearly choking, "by god, this nearly melted by gullet."

"You really need to get out more, my dear Lyam. Get away from this war!" she smiled.

"My duty is here Tolena, unlike you and the Crimson Guard, I fight for Roan here on our soil."

"Sheesh, still high on your horse I see," she crossed her arms.

"You didn't come down here to visit me. You're here for something else. Spit it out already."

"Well I did want to come and see you, my dear Lyam, but alas fate had befallen on me," another smiled creased across her face, a state which worried Reed a little," to tell the Duke, a Forellian attack is imminent on this very fortress."

"What?!" he spoke loudly, almost awakening Orelas.

Tolena walked by the door, "I do advise you get some rest, my love. You are going to have a long day ahead of you," and left walking down the corridor, leaving Reed. Reed looked at Orelas, who was sleeping peacefully, and rested his head on the table.