Chapter 1 Unexpected situation
"How's everything up here." I said to the visibly shaken Gryphon lookout on top one of the four towers around the town. He wore a simple leather tunic and not much else other than typical folk clothes including a patchy pair of pants, a stitched wool shirt, and a big pair of simple leather gloves that was standard issue for every archer. He also wore a metal helmet that if anything only protected against a downward slash from a rusty blade or a rock, his orange eyes and his yellow beak were clearly visible along with his light grey and green feathers.
He flinched from my deep voice and responded" Yeah everything's fine other than the fact that I found that head earlier." I remembered seeing that head too, the unicorn doctor called Heinrich was going to replace our current doctor that went to Canterlot for medical help with one of the kids in town. I didn't want him to go right now since bandit activity was rising but it seems he managed to get out in time luckily but the doctor that came obviously didn't make it since this lookout found his severed head displayed outside of town on a spike. I remember him calling for me in the morning for me to take a look before the sun was up.
“Sir you seem quite unfazed to finding the severed head of our current doctor on a spike, might I ask how you do it." I turned my attention back at the lookout and stared at him for a few seconds before responding." You simply learn to not be affected by a dismembered limb and stop saying sir." He shook his head then said "Ok Blas but not that how you deal with all this stress, from what you did a month ago I can understand why your unaffected by blood but the stress of dealing with all the towns problems that's what I'm asking about."
I looked at my gauntleted metal claws for a few seconds before examining the rest of my armored form. My paws were in armored boots that went up all the way to my knees and after my knees there were thigh guards that were supported by leather belts that looped around my thighs. My armored chest piece was fairly thick compared to most others and it was almost equally armored on both the back and front, they were also supported by leather belts and they were nailed to my shoulder plates so it wasn't like the belts were taking all the weight. My helmet almost fully covered my face except for the eyes, and it wasn't as thick as my thigh guards but the thigh guards was still a claw segment thick. My gauntlets were similar to the lookouts with the leather glove but the glove obviously had armored bits attached to it and the parts stopping the reason creatures have claws were sharpened.
I looked at the lookout and said" Why does everyone keep asking if I'm well, of course I'm well, I'm talking and standing like the rest of you." He simply kept on shaking his head as I continued to look out into the hillside forest as the evening sky went from a bright orange to a dark blue and I continued to watch even when the moon was starting to become visible in the sky. We had bonfires set up outside the town when night came around to ward off anyone coming in this direction and to act as extra light so we can see them coming.
“Sir no umm Blas you should probably go inside and get some rest.” I looked at him with my very light yellow eyes and stood straighter from my slumping position from earlier. I uncrossed my arms and said” Your right I'm going to get the other lookout and send him over, but don't hesitate to wake me if you see anyone crawl out of the forest.” He gave me a simple acknowledgement and I started walking toward the ladder of the wooden platform. I went over to the ladder and looked down at the three meter drop before hopping off.
I dropped to the ground hard due to the weight of all my armor and not to mention my sword glued to my back as I felt the impact rush through my legs and claws. Though since I've done this plenty of times the drop isn't as bad compared to a much higher drop or someone doing this for the first time. ”Good thing I know to bend my knees.”
I got up from my somewhat feral position and began walking to where the lookout should be keeping an eye out for anything suspicious happening within the small town. Though like most nights the town was relatively silent, since this town is quite small and most of the people who live here are in there homes sleeping. I walked over to the makeshift guard house that was actually just like any other stone and wooden ceiling house, except the former owners died by a group of bandits.
I turned the iron handle of the wooden door and walked inside to find the lookout I needed.” Hey I'm heading to my place to rest, You need to head to the west Watchtower.” He sheathed the knife he was examining and proceeded to gather his bow and quiver. He walked out of the guard house and began running over to the watchtower, I looked back inside to see the only other resident being an old gryphon that was fast asleep sitting in one of the wooden chairs. He was in full armor much like the lookouts but instead of a leather tunic, he wore a metal chest piece that was bound to him with leather straps and his wings could actually be used with the armor on. His feathers and fur was also a light grey due to his age.
I quietly walked over to him and picked up a wool blanket that was next to his chair before gently laying it across his sleeping form. I then walked out the building and moved over to a small wooden structure a grand total of five meters from the guard house. I opened the wooden door and closed it, completely disregarding the iron dead bolt that was hammered into the wood which was the only piece of metal on the door. I looked inside to see a small bed that can barely fit my unarmored form, a small shin high table and a single wooden chair. I took off my helmet and placed it on the shin high table before sitting in the chair and began trying to rest. After a couple minutes of trying to calm my nerves I succumbed to the exhaustion that's been plaguing me for weeks and entered dreamless abyss.
The first thing that I heard when I awoke from the milky blackness of sleep was my door being rammed open. I quickly opened my eyes to see the old griffon from last night except with a fearful expression on his face and his sword at the ready. "Samuel what the hell is happening." I said in a tired and somewhat groggy voice while I robotically grabbed my helmet and put it on. I heard Samuel shout at me" Those scum sucking bandits are at the west entrance making demands and there's a lot of them!" I then heard him mutter under his breath" Thank Christ this village only has two entrances."
I followed his limping form as I pulled my sword off my back, my sword has a stabbing point and has two razor sharp sides that I myself painstakingly sharpened beyond the norm for longswords. It wasn't as tall as me since when I stick it into the ground it only goes to the very bottom of my sternum, though when I'm out of my armor it reaches to the base of my neck. It was my weapon from the day I used it and it will be till the day I die and it wont be these bandit shits outside my town.
I continued tromping over to the west entrance to see most of the guards at the entrance aiming their bows at the enemy outside the town or if they had a sword they were in a fighting stance. I asked Samuel" Where are the rest of the towns people." He replied quickly" There at the other end of town with a few guards, the elderly, woman, children, and all the men that aren't here." I looked at him and I could see a saddening expression on his normally angry and stern face, I continued walking when I hit the back of the guards and I didn't even need to say anything for the gryphons in the back to look behind them and let me past forward to the front.
I hit the front of the guards to see the mayor trying to do something, he kept saying something like "What do you want." and "We got plenty of money and food." I looked at the horribly ill prepared and to be honest crap mayor when I plunged my sword first into the ground. I let him run his beak until he turned around and noticed me before practically lunging for me and began pulling at my chest piece. He started saying" Oh thank goodness your hear as you can see we have some ruffians, and do your job and get rid of them for me will you!" He shouted at me as he was basically groveling at my paws.
I Pulled him up with my left claw and pushed him in the direction of the guards, who just watched as they saw him fall to the ground. Covering his expensive looking uniform in dirt before he picked himself up and shook off the dirt before running off like a scared dog, his tail was even between his legs. I heard almost everyone start chuckling or laughing, hell Samuel's signature cackle was able to be heard. I looked back at the group of bandits and saw them laughing."Oh how I hate that bag of feathers."
"Hahaha oh my I thought that guy was never going to shut up." I looked over to the voice and saw a gryphon leaning forward before standing back up. He had blue eyes and wore armor similar to Samuel except more complete, with gauntlets and knee and shin guards, and the red wave like patterns painted on the armor. He lacked an helmet though he wore a look of pure confidence that made me want to crush his head in my claws.
I said" Yeah, that's the only reason we have that lying bag of tail feathers." I turned my self fully to the group of individuals and continued" So your the reason I haven't been able to rest for the past month, well then what do you want!" My voice was level though my voice was quite agitated since I have been trying to keep my temper down ever since all this bandit crap has been happening and to find them on my doorstep wasn't exactly a liberating sight to see. I put my right claw on my longsword and let it rest on the hilt.
The laughing gryphon from earlier responded" Well then nice to meet you and your lovely entourage but what we want is what your currently standing on." He pointed at me and everything and everyone behind me. I replied" Well I'm sorry but that isn't going to happen until I stop breathing the same air, names Blas." I expected him to get angry but instead his grin only got wider. At this point I noticed that some of them were getting on there all fours, most of them female, though it looked more like they were going into a very peculiar fighting style, especially if you take into the fact that they wore razor sharp claws. The only odd one of the bandit group was a cloaked figure with a wooden staff that had a glowing jewel at the end of it.
"Oh how do you think you will win this fight, you lack men to fight and weapons and armor, yet you all just wont surrender and leave this place." He pulled out and iron sword before continuing" Since you wont just leave this place that means we have to kill all of you and personally we don't want to pick up all your corpses." His grin was growing to a point where it can barely contain his face. "Oh and since you told me your why don't I tell you mine, It's Francis and remember this could have ended peacefully." He held a maniac grin as everyone at his side began rushing forward save the cloaked figure and one of the females.
I shouted" Make these bastards regret living!" I pulled my sword from the ground as I began walking forward towards the enemy. I gryphon with a iron sword was rushing right at me, With my right claw I rested my sword on an armored area of my back. The bandit couldn't react in time to even hope to block and even if he did it would have done nothing. My sword swing hit him right in the sternum and expectantly cleaved him into two pieces.
I heard a yell and saw that three of the female fighters were circling me in there feral stances, to say it felt weird looking at them was expected. The one behind me pounced only to feel cold steel as I dashed to the right and turned while swinging my sword. Her head sprayed blood as it flew through the air, the other women looked at me with hints of fear as I turned toward them. I didn't wait long as one of them pounced for my head while the other sprinted toward my legs. I kicked the one going to my feet as the one who pounced for me gripped my shoulders. I grabbed the women's head and begin squeezing hard, as I felt her claws dig into my unarmored area. She released her grip her grip on my only to flail her claws at my arms as I continued crushing her skull. Her screaming only ended when I heard a sickening crunch and spurts of blood come from her head.
I released her body as her legs stopped supporting themselves on my chest. I looked over at the dazed one to see a look of complete and utter fear in her eyes before she began scampering off. I gripped my sword in two claws as a few of the sword wielding men formed a small circle around me. I shouted before I ran to the one in front of me as I pointed the tip of my sword at his chest. I thrust my sword forward to have my blade enter his upper sternum, killing him as I then began swinging my sword left. I hit the bandit in his less armored side causing him to be cleaved in two, his face showed no emotion as his body fell to the ground. The body that was on my blade fell on impact.
The circle I was making with my strike hit the third guy in the leg cutting it off and the final bandit ducked under my horizontal strike. I looked at him before quickly doing a vertical strike that he couldn't block effectively, my sword stopped in his shoulder so I quickly pulled the blade out and doing a left to right vertical strike that decapitated him. I looked over to the severed leg bandit, who was currently screaming his beak off. I quickly stomped my right armored boot onto his skull, silencing his cries of agony and leaving quite a big mess.
"Get the fuck off me you whores!" I heard Samuel scream as I looked in the direction of his call. He had one of the female fighters on his back and before I could rush over to him, I saw her run her armored claws across Samuels throat. Blood rushed from his throat in torrents and all life just disappeared from his eyes as he collapsed to the ground. I Screamed and was about to rush forward but I couldn't bring my left arm forward. I looked at it and saw that it had a yellow magical field around it, and before long I felt my legs get consumed by the field and I began getting dragged backward. I looked behind me to see the crystal from the glowing figure grow more bright and that his hood was off and I saw a unicorn in deep concentration.
I shouted" Let me go or I will roast you alive!" He didn't react but I noticed a black vortex appear with a yellow outline with ancient runes visible due to there increased brightness. I felt my already skyrocketing temper increase and the overall temperature of the area around me felt hotter. I heard Francis say" Don't fight the inevitable you wonderful bastard." I looked to my left and saw Francis barely out of arms reach, and my sword claw couldn't bend so I was out of luck. I shouted at him" Fuck you, you bandit shit!" He made a mock expression of hurt before he threw a dagger into one of my sides. The pain I felt was the equivalent of a small burning sensation, though it only hurt more as I saw his smug expression return.
I felt everything grow a few degrees hotter as I saw the grass my armored boots become dry and brittle. I looked behind me to see the vortex a mere meter away from me. I said" I will find you and burn you to ashes Francis!" I felt a odd cold surround me as I felt my arms and legs enter the vortex. The last thing I saw was Francis's grin grow to comical levels.
I awoke with my face to the sky as I was sprawled out on the ground. I stood up quickly and looked around to see that I was in a rocky region of what might be a desert then again there is no deserts in the Gryphon Kingdom so I didn't know exactly how a desert looked. All I Knew was that they lacked water and had lots of sand, this place lacked water but just had a lot of rocks and plateaus. I said" Where am I."
I looked up at the sky after hearing loud cannon like noises and saw a small object speed toward a green forest that was conveniently right in front of me. The small object had a trail of smoke coming from it and there was two boat like objects that were significantly bigger than the other object following the trail. I Began moving forward only to stop due to my increasing temperature and the obvious smoke trails coming from my covered claws. I took several deep breaths and tried to focus only on the task that is currently at hand.
"I will look for away back but the likely hood of me coming back to all of you is almost nothing, but I should at least try."I told myself that as I calmed down but the likely hood that there alive was slim, because we were barely geared to deal with an attack and none of them were formally trained except for Samuel and me. I shook my helmeted head and moved toward the only sign of anything in this giant tan colored land of rocks.
I kept my eyes forward as I began pacing forward with my sword holstered due to it being heavy and I didn't feel like I was in immediate danger. I checked my side to where I was stabbed and saw the blade was still in me, though I was feeling very little pain from the area. I put my right free claw around the handle and quickly pulled it out, I felt a draining sensation from the area and enough pain that made me grit my teeth. Though the pain will always be better than having a horrible burning sensation crawl over my body and envelope you.
I kept my right claw on the wound after I dropped the dagger with little care for its feelings. After walking for a few moments, I eventually saw a plume of dust coming toward me and when I focused on it, I saw red and green. The plume was growing rapidly toward me and I saw in much greater detail of what it was, yet I didn't know what I was seeing. Whatever was making that plume of smoke stopped in front of me and I quickly put my right claw on to the hilt of my holstered blade.
The figure on top of the red object looked kind of like a green cat, if a cat walked on two legs and had arms, hands and wore clothes. It got off its bike and looked at me with strangely big green eyes, it's ears were twitching rapidly and it had a hand under its chin.
It then blatantly said to me in a female sounding voice" Who are you and do you know what's happening over there." It began pointing back toward where it came from with both its hands. Before I could respond I then felt several shockwaves hit me as multiple explosions happened around us. I rapidly covered my face with my arms and I had a ringing noise happening in my ears. I noticed that cat like creature rode on the red object and head back toward the forest.
After I put my arms down, I looked at the forest and decided to begin moving forward at a faster pace than my casual walk. I ran at a full stride and my arms were also moving with my rhythm. I muttered under my breath" I don't know where I am but I feel like I have to head there, well they might have seen something."
continued to run forward whether I was heading into something I wasn't prepared for or not I didn't care, I only wanted to know what the hell was happening. And a way back to the village.
Author's Note
This is my new story and its quite unexpected I know but I don't care. my account I write what I want and I cant exactly complain about forgetting to indent now. since I am very sure I have indented but when your actually reading them there is no indenting hahahaha. Like normal tell me your criticism and what I could improve on.
I admit I need to learn how to make better fight scenes.
I continued to move forward in what I could only describe as the most as the most obtuse path I've seen. I looked behind me to see all the cliffs I had to climb and jump up to continue forward. I looked forward and continued to follow the green cat girl or at least her tracks as I saw a line in the ground with uneven dents run within it. I followed it and Crash I hopped backwards and saw what looked like spider two legged metallic creature with a long tube that it pointed at me.
"I don't have time for this." I muttered as I drew my sword and began moving toward the creature. the creature lobbed a small ball that erupted into a small explosion in front of me, I ran through the fire and struck the creature with a horizontal slash and then a one handed vertical that embedded in the creature. The creature didn't have any blood but it proceeded to slump over and show an array of cords inside.
I removed my sword from it and proceeded onward as I met what seemed to be a bigger one eyed hornet. It moved toward me with impressive speed only for it to meet a blade to the eye. It shattered into many pieces as I shortly began making small jumps, sliding down small hills and jumping up small cliffs to follow the cats tracks. This cat rode up a straight wall with that object and now I saw evidence that she rode in what I could only describe as I giant wheel.
Eventually I ended up in the forest, though the convoluted path stayed and the hostiles from earlier continued to be on my path. The Wasp creatures would show there face after a few meters and the lobbing metal creature would be close by another corpse of them. It didn't show much if any emotion in its non existent face or in its posture, it would only turn in my direction and fire.
I sliced the creature horizontally, jumped up to a higher platform and cut a wasp in two. I kept on following the tracks left by the green feline and eventually ended up hitting a waterfall with logs constantly falling down it in a rhythmic pattern. I looked up the waterfall to see what looked like claw like indentations on the sides of it. I looked at my sharp steel claws and decided to throw myself onto the side of the waterfall and started to slowly climb it. I felt my arms burn and fidget while climbing myself up the side of the cliff and eventually I made it with my heart pounding In my ears.
I continued forward to find another waterfall with the same log like pattern, along with what could be tunnels crisscrossing through it. I looked toward the river where the logs are coming from and noticed the river just had a near infinite amount of logs flowing through it and down the waterfall. With very little thought I jumped on top of one of the logs and instantly the log tripled in speed and crash down into the water with me mere seconds behind it.
I swam up to the side of the river, with my head nearly submerged and tried to pull myself up and onto the bank though all I could do was keep my head up at this point. I hanged on the side of the bank waiting for my slow labored breaths to become calmer as I decided to never even try to do that again. I pulled myself onto the bank using my legs to help kick myself up and slowly flopped onto the bank before rolling over and picking myself up. I muttered "Reminder never jump on logs going down a waterfall, imbecile."
I shook myself, and continued walking in the direction of the cat. I noticed what looked like collapsed section of rock walls and more tunnels about than in any of the previous areas. I continued running and jumping up ledges until I found myself in an area with unnatural holes in the ground and several metal cogs strewn about. "Hmm why are there cogs in the middle of a forest?" I have never found metal just laying around without a layer of dirt or covered in greenery before, though wait were those things I killed made of metal. I only saw cords in them along with a black liquid, but none of them had cogs in them though they were tough and didn't have organs like me. Hmm they could be like a timber wolf but they are made of wood and have beating hearts just before I cleave them in two.
I pondered the idea while holding a gear for a several moments until I heard a loud bang. I looked up, dropped the gear and moved in the direction of the noise in a full sprint. As I ran I noticed more pieces of metal strewn about and a long metal tail that lied on the forest floor and traveled up the hill. the tail had many different pieces of segmented metal in a hexagonal tiling that would be noticed if you used it as a surface to write on. When I almost reached the crest of the hill I heard talking so I slowed my approach and just before the hill flattened out I crouched and peaked over the edge.
I saw what I could only describe as different, the cat lady was there but she wasn't alone. There was an odd looking "girl" in light blue clothing, skin tight shorts that stopped before the knee and a sleeveless light blue jacket that was slightly open to reveal a tiny bit of a white shirt, the individual also had horns and tentacle scaly hair, her hair was also purple along with her skin. The other individual that they are talking to was a duck turtle with green hair, orange goggles, and orange and black shoes. The other odd thing was a smoking object that had a broken glass window and what might have been the head of the giant tail, a purple snake head.
I have cleaved through timber wolves, seen a windigo, and seen the worst of my people and yet I cant believe a turtle duck exists. I'm seeing it with both my eyes and yet I don't believe that is a turtle duck. Samuel always told me I could smell or see through people, whether they were putting up a clever façade or a disguise from a poor old man that was actually a very clever thief. I sifted through a small pouch on my lower back that I kept personal items and pulled out a small sketch of Samuel. the artist who drew it did really well in getting his tired old face just right and it honestly just made me feel... sad.
Yeah that is what this feeling might be, the odd emptiness felt different this time and I also felt angry, a feeling I have had no issues understanding for most of my life. I folded the drawing back up and pocketed before looking back at the group to see the green cat looking in my direction, we even made eye contact though she didn't look very surprised so my guess is she noticed me earlier or when I was looking at the drawing. I don't have a choice now, should just stand up and get it over with.
I rose to my full height and slowly walked over to the individuals that have now stopped talking due to the cat patting the weird girl and pointing in my direction. The turtle duck looked at me with a look of fear while the purple girl looked at me curiously, though not without caution visible in her form. She's jumpy though not as much as the turtle duck that looks like he's ready to run at a moments notice. I stopped when I was few meters away and right next to the head of the snake, I ran a claw over the creature and I could feel cold hard metal through the leather from my gauntlets.
As I ran my claws on it I heard the cat girls voice say "Is that why you are here, for a robot?" I stopped touching the... robot and looked at her who from the trio moved closer about a meter away from me actually. She looks tall enough to go to my lower sternum and probably to my neck when out of armor though I'm not certain. I spoke slowly "Ro bot... no I'm not here because of this thing." I tapped the head with one of my metal knuckles noticing the non resonating noise it made, It's solid.
"Then why are you here?" I looked in the direction of the turtle duck who sounded like a man who is scared also not that old. I responded "Where am I?" They all looked at me quizzically before the purple girl said in a young feminine voice "You are in Dragon valley." So that's where I am a place called Dragon valley but why does this place not have any dragons and no fire or lava.
I looked around and said "Where are the dragons?" When I looked back at them they all looked at me perplexed. The cat spoke while pointing at the purple girl "Lilac's a dragon".
"Carol don't give the stranger any ideas." And then they started arguing with the cat now called Carol, arguing with the so called dragon Lilac. I just stood there while they argued like friends or sisters with Carol saying things like little miss hero pants. I stayed quiet during there argument and as they finished up they looked at the turtle duck. "Hey you want to continue this at our house it's not far." Carol said to me after Lilac was done "Your invited too after all you look pretty lost."
I don't have any directions and I'm more lost than I've been my entire life. But I don't like the fact that they openly invited a stranger and a hulking armored warrior to there home. I don't plan on hurting them though they don't know that and they don't look threatening. then again I can assume they fought this snake.
I looked at Carol and said" Fine I'll come with you, just don't try anything. you will regret it." She looked at me nervously but shrugged it off and began walking in a direction. I causally followed her about two meters behind.
Even if it goes to shit I will at least have a few answers.
Author's Note
It's been too long.
I wrote this chapter at different periods. the first 300 hundred words was when I first started it and then I think a month past. though I managed to get this chapter out I'm putting the story on hiatus mainly to focus on other stories. I'm more invested with a Soldiers Misfortune and A Merchants New Life. I don't plan on ever giving up Merchants and I like where I'm going with Misfortune.
On a side note I played the Evil Within 2 and if you played the first game and liked it, I recommend the sequel. It is a direct sequel to evil within 1 where you play as washed up police detective Sebastian Castellanos and You go back into the mind fuck machine to save his daughter. When I feel up for it I'm probably going to post a blog post about the game. And no it is not like resident evil 6, there is a extreme lack of over the top action, So no worries.