Tales of the Forgotten: Prelude

As the embers smolder the phoenix comes.

July 28th, 2017 2:22 P.M.

Lybastor, Mirador

“Keep your head down and your eyes forward Cynthia. The faster we get through this town the better, these minotaurs won’t hesitate to dismember us if we even look at them wrong.” I warned my companion as we wore cloaks over our head and covered most of our faces with the cowl. The town smelled of blood, urine and death. Everywhere we looked we either saw dead bodies laying in the streets or alleyways, or we saw a puddle of urine that had been dropped from the windows of the buildings along the pathways made of cobblestone.

The town seemed like a shit stain upon the pristine mountainous country of Mirador. Many cities and towns had adopted the modern way of living while Lybastor seemed to have halted in the midst of the medieval age from many centuries ago. On corners were minotaurs who I could almost identify as female waiting to be taken away by some loveless bastard for a quick bit to be made. We got stares from everywhere as we walked, some intrigued, some angry, some thinking of trouble. Something greatly bothered me about the town, everywhere I looked, there was a wanted poster and for what disturbed me further. Human bone.

It was made pretty obvious that Minotaurs were not fond of humans, or at least humans from very long ago. To them it looked like humans were more than just a myth but were something of a threat to them. I had heard rumors of “humans” appearing in Mirador while I was in Sayona during my first couple of weeks there but I dismissed them. When I kept hearing it more and more I started to get suspicious because the rumors described them as hulking naked  creatures with horns like that of a demon, they carried weapons made of bone. If they were naked humanoids I would have immediately gone to investigate but hearing about the horns immediately dismissed any would be thoughts of cutting my journey in Sayona short.

I walked over to one of the posters and ripped it off a board full of other bounties. This wasn’t a town, it was a gathering point for bounty hunters and mercenaries. I stood there studying the sketch before I heard hooves stop a few feet behind me. I ignored it and continued to study the image it was exactly what I thought it would be, these weren’t humans, they were orcs or at least looked like orcs. You might want to turn around Robert! Zeke screamed at me as I grabbed the handle of my sword with my left hand before spinning around to face the threat.

“Fiesty, isn’t ya?” A minotaur that was easily 7’ 6” towered over me, his fur was a light brown and his body was littered with scars, at least his arms were. His chest was covered by metal armor. He wore an eyepatch over his left eye and his left horn was broken off at the base. His right horn grew in a sickle c shape above his head and the he carried a large greatsword that made up the entire length of my body. He stared me down with a scowl that would make anybody soil themselves but I stood my ground motioning Cynthia behind me.

“Can’t exactly be too cautious when its your first time coming here. Not exactly the nicest place to come to it seems.” I replied cautiously as he took a step forwards and leaned down to eye level.

“What be yer name tiny hairless one?” he inquired.

“Meto, what is yours?” I responded as he stood tall once again.

“It doesn’t matter, give me that bounty and I’ll be on ma way.” He demanded holding a hand out.

“The human one?” I asked as he gave a gruff nod. “Sorry to say, this isn’t a human.” I stated flatly as he sharpened his glare.

“What do you mean? Of cours-”

“It isn’t. You’re looking at a real human right now.” I snapped back before he could finish as he continued to stare me down before releasing back and laughing loudly.

“Is this some kind of joke? You look nothing like what humans are!” He pointed out as he tried to stop laughing.

I glared daggers into him, “What you believe to be humans, are what we call orcs. Just like Minotaurs nothing but fantasy creatures, most races accept their ignorance to what we really look like because they’ve never seen a real life human.” The large minotaur stopped and his grin turned into a pissed off frown.

“Fantasy creatures ya say?” He stomped his left hoof as he closed in on me to try to intimidate me. He lowered his face to mine, “Does this look fake to you?” he growled.

I took a step forward and pulled my sword out of its sheath raising it up between us, “And do I look fake to you, Minotaur? If there's one thing your myths got right, we don’t take kindly to being threatened even if the odds are against us.” my voice dripped with acid.

“If you really are, then I’ll take you as my bounty!” He roared as he brought his greatsword up in a swipe. I jumped back, pushing Cynthia and Venia out of range.

“Cynthia, stay hidden while I deal with him.” I stated coldly as I put my staff down and held my sword in both hands. The minotaur was going for another attack, bringing his sword down in an arc at me, I side-stepped using my sword to ensure it didn’t touch me. The sound of metal against metal scratching rang out loudly in the deserted streets. A curious head poking its leering head out of the windows along the street to watch what was occurring. I lashed my sword out at his unprotected hand and cut deep into the middle of his right hand causing him to howl in pain. He brought his sword back up quickly and went for a side-swipe. I didn’t see it in time as I brought my sword up to defend myself, the force of the strike sent me skidding away but I held out. My arms and hands shook with pain from the force of the blow, I looked at my hilt to find my blood dripping from it. You need to end this quickly Robert. Zeke informed me.

The minotaur shouldered his greatsword and crouched down with his left shoulder canted slightly towards me. He let out a vicious war cry as he charged at me with all his force leaving himself wide open. I jumped out of way and he couldn’t see me anymore but he was still charging the same spot. I brought my sword out to my side and readied myself. Just as he was about to charge past I swung at his legs with all my might, I felt the sword make contact and watched as the blood washed across my body and the ground but my sword was gone. It was ripped out of my hands by the force and was now stuck in the wooden wall a few meters away but what was left a foot away was the lower half of the charging minotaurs left leg. I smiled wickedly as I heard him crying out in pain and shock as he held his stub.

I picked up his left leg and walked over to him, when he saw me he started to back away using his arms. “Please...stop! Ahm sorry!” He pleaded as he continued backing away from me until he hit the wall where my sword was stuck into. He pointed his great sword at me shaking, “STAY AWAY!” He squealed as I came closer and closer to him. Before I stopped a couple feet out of his weapons range. I let my gaze fall to one of amusement.

“If I were going to kill you, I would have done so with my first attack. You leave yourself wide open with your shitty self taught stance. Your whole right side was left open, I slashed your hand to see if you just slipped up because you took me lightly, yet my strike connected with ease when it could have easily been deflected. I could have also taken your head in that instance as well, you only have a metal cuirass not even a well made one at that.”

“You leave your arms, legs, neck, and head all wide open to attack. All of your scars aren’t showing you as a badass, yeah it looks scary and intimidating but it means you’ve been wounded because you weren’t skilled enough. You wave around a greatsword, so what? You’re strong I will give you that Minotaur, but you’re far too unskilled to do any damage to anyone without sustaining a lot yourself.” I held his leg out to him, while he just stared at it in shock before I dropped it on his lap. He quickly tossed the leg away still staring at it in horror.

“Do you want to know why I took your blows?” I asked as he hurled what was left of what I presumed to be his previous meal. “Well thats disgusting, but I digress. The reason I took your blows was to test you, behind your blow was overwhelming strength that attempted to hide your lackluster skills. You are nothing but that, muscle and brute force compacted into a large body.”

“You want a real bounty? I’ll show you something.” I stated as I pulled out one of the drakon claws from the one I slayed a few weeks ago. “Have you ever attempted to kill a Drakon? Let alone multiple Drakon’s at once? Ever fight the undead of a lost town? Ever stare down a Dragon without fear, looking into its large eye that is easily the size of you? Your insignificant self couldn’t do what real bounty hunters or mercenaries do, you’d die at the hands of a baby rabbit.” I pulled some gauze wraps out of my satchel and knelt down to his wounded leg. He saw me move and immediately brought his sword up in defense.

I grabbed my sword and pointed it at him as I continued to prepare the gauze. “I’m taking care of your wound you fool, unless you want me to end you here and now.” I gave him a deadly warning.

“W...why would you help muh...I jus tried ta murder ya.” He said disappointedly causing me to smile.

“If I killed you, it wouldn’t bode well for my trip even if it were in self-defense. Minotaurs aren’t exactly the most understanding creatures and they’re very bull headed, no pun intended.”

He let his sword clatter to the ground as he tilted his head back, “So were ya tellin tha truth? About bein a human?” he asked cautiously.

“I have no reason to lie to you. As I’ve told many others before you and will tell many more to come, I lost everything I ever loved or dreamed of the day I was ripped from my world. Hold still, this is going to sting badly. The gauze has ointment on it that will speed up the healing process and disinfect the wound.” I told him as he nodded. I could feel his whole body tense up as I wrapped his stub in the gauze.

“Humans aren’t vile creatures hellbent on harming other creatures, at least not all of us.” I stated mournfully. “As with all races living here in Equus I guarantee there are some groups that would harm others for their own gain, one such group would seem to be these ‘humans’. They’re the reason I’m here in Mirador, I need to know the truth behind this world's ‘humans’ and see if the legends are true or not. If they are…” my voice trailed off as I finished tying off the gauze.

The minotaur looked at me questioningly, “What will ya do if they are?” he drew out his question being very cautious not to strike a nerve with me.

I furrowed my brow into a furious glare as I looked up at him and brought my sword up and held it horizontal in front of me. “If they are, even if it takes me years to do so, I will kill every last one of them and on that I swear my soul to the Devil who counts my days in this world.”

The minotaurs pain seemed to fade away into eagerness as he heard this, “Then allow this minotaur to raise his sword in your name for this deed Meto. Ah would see to it that ah died in battle by yah side if yer sword is true and your heart is right. Allow Trakkar Gloryhunter to fight by your side.” He held out a hand to show his companionship.

I grabbed his hand and pulled him in close, “If you mean it, I will take you on but first.” I gestured to his leg, “We need to fix this, do you know anywhere that could make you a new leg?” I asked as he nodded his head.

“That I do, but it’ll be pretty costly.” I smiled at his scowl.

“I’m sure that with the bounties we collect, it’ll be a mere drop in the bucket. Besides I still haven’t sold this treasure yet.” I pulled out a lump of gold ore that was easily the size of my hand and then some. “I got this as a reward for my services a couple weeks after I arrived in Sayona months ago. I heard that Minotaurs love gold and that even an ounce is worth a small fortune in bits.” His jaw dropped at the sight of it and so did Cynthia's.

“These are the types of things you get from doing real bounty hunting and real mercenary work Trakkar. Stick with me and the bounties on that board will be gone in a couple of weeks and their rewards in your hands.” I smiled as he looked at me shocked.

“But what about yers? What do ya get out of it besides experience?” He asked as I smiled.

“You’ll see in due time what taking care of bounties can do for a local populace.” I waved a hand at the slums all around us. “I’ve watched towns like this be turned around because of some bounties being taken care of. Being a bounty hunter will have its ups and downs, but with each one completed it takes another stress away from the townspeople.” I pointed to the overflowing bounty board, “And with this one overflowing with them, we can do a lot for this town.”

“But in the end, that’s all we are, bounty hunters. We don’t question the order, we just simply abide by it. I’ve done some great things and some things I will never be able to clean my hands of. I guarantee you will learn that in due time or have already learned that.” I pointed to his scars as he nodded in agreement. I stood up and proceeded to put my arm under his and lift him up letting him use me as a prop.

I motioned Cynthia over to us, “Cynthia take Venia and get a room here in town, we’re going to be here for a long while.”