• Valen


    I awoke in the middle of a screaming battlefield; fire surrounded our castle, the light’s name screeched out by hundreds of dying breaths. I could hear the sound of triumph coming from afar, nay too many of them, our men were retreating to the outer reaches of the village. General Blackhawk managing to withstand the attack with the help of so little archers and mages.
    I stand by him, “Valen, we need more arrows, and ammo for the catapult, Head to the castle central grounds with Seth and get us some, soldier!” He said looking exhausted and overwhelmed. “Yes sir!” from that I ran down the stairs of the fortress noticing the very nasty scars lain on the castle, I knew it would never be the same to be stationed here ever again if I were ever given the chance.
    I arrived downstairs, the surroundings looking unusually untouched. There stood Seth, staring at me with suspicion; I never did understand why he stares at me like that. “Valen, I figured you would have ran away like the others” He struck with his words, “Nay, I will fight until I die, or there is absolutely no hope” I heard the sound of the enemy smashing against the door leading to the underground. Seth and I grabbed a bundle of arrows and rocks and then ran back to the fortress to warn the others.
    “General Blackhawk! The enemy has made it passed our underground barricade! They could come out at any moment to strike us down!” I yelled in panic, “Darn it all! There’s only one thing we can do now, Valen, you come with me, everyone else, protect the outer borders of the village, if we can’t have this castle then they can’t have theirs! Dalrak, take this torch.”
    A few soldiers threw some ropes down the outer wall of the fortress, and we managed to escape just as dozens of enemy soldiers began swarming out of the basement like bees. The general and I were the last ones left; I could still see our castle, which was overrun by soldiers, luckily we were out of their range of fire, as long as they can’t fix the catapult quickly.
    We managed to sneak in their castle, which was very lightly guarded since they took over our castle. We first burnt their supplies, then the flag (and we raised ours just for good measure), we knew the flag wouldn’t last long, but it would lower morale. We finally ran sneakily passed the guards who were occupied by the supplies burning until we ran up the stairs to their fortress.
    We knew the fortress was going to be a problem, but we couldn’t stop now. There were dozens of guards of all sorts, but Blackhawk ran through them and set the entire fortress on fire. I heard his screams as he died triumphantly, being slashed at until finally shot an arrow through the neck. They guards heard me scream in terror from my dying superior, I quickly ran, a few guards managed to get out of the fortress and chase me, I found a hole in the wall of their village, and laid low until I managed to get back to the village. From that point, I knew the name General Blackhawk would me remembered for a long, long time.
    And so I woke up, sleeping in my bed next to my roommate in his own bed Marka. Why must I keep having this same dream over and over again?
    My name is Valenheart Dreugh. I was recruited into the military a few months ago with my friend Marka. He doesn’t have a last name, he’s an orphan. About a month ago, my superior General Blackhawk died defending against our enemy, the Necromancer (AKA: Ragnaros). The necromancer is an ordinary soul, corrupted by the power of Ragnarok, the destruction of the world in the last great conflict between the gods and the forces of evil. Ragnaros has been banned from using the power of Ragnarok, and has found a way to gain his powers back.
    Marka and I are going to a leadership class, since I have been promoted to Lieutenant. “Marka, get up, it’s time to go” after a while of struggling I finally got him up, and we were on our way.
    We finally made it to the recruitment camp, there weren’t too many people, but after all, we have lost a lot of men in battle. After about an hour of waiting, the commander finally came out. “I am Commander Gerik, but to you soldiers I shall be known as sir, or commander.” He began, “You all are here today to either lead, or follow”
    He went on with introductions and rules until he finally let us pick our teams. Of course I chose Marka, but we looked around until there were only two people left. “Kent, it looks like you and your sister are going to be paired up with Valen and Marka,” said the commander. They both walked over and the other seemed to hop on one leg for some reason, and introduced themselves, and then we sat around for about an hour chatting.

    Kent


    “Wake up Kent we’re going to be late!” Said my sister. I grumpily got up and looked at the clock, “Orla, why do you always do this?” “Do what?” “Wake me up a half an hour early and act like we’re going to be late.” “Well how would we know? They could have started early!” “A half and hour?” “Exactly!” *Sigh*.
    While we were walking through the village I spotted Seth at a bookstore, and Lyndis browsing through some weaponry. When we finally made it to the soldier encampment, we listened to the Commander speak until he told us to find a group. “Come on Kent! We need to hurry before we’re the last ones left!” Orla nagged, “There is a multiple of four people here, we can just sit around until we’re paired up with some random people” I mentioned. “Come on you nerd! I don’t want to be paired up with random people, what if we get paired up with someone we don’t like?” She said as she tugged on my arm, “I don’t care whom we get paired up with, they’re all here because they’re good at what they do, and that’s all I need to know” “But I do! Hurry!”
    I heard the commander speak, ““Kent, it looks like you and your sister are going to be paired up with Valen and Marka”. “I told you so,” I said to Orla. She kicked me in the shin and I grabbed my leg and hissed, which forced me to hop in pain, following Orla.

    Valen


    After a while of waiting, we finally were all called to commence evaluation. We were first given a written test, then we moved on to sparring. I went against Kent and Orla against Seth, I didn’t get to see whom Marka was against, but nonetheless he won by average standards, even though there was no winning.
    We were each given our new ranks, I was now a Major, and Marka was promoted to lieutenant. Kent and Orla were both Corporals. It was a very short Ceremony today, I guess because of the undead advance. Our group was given our first assignment, we were to meet with a white knight near Bowery Bay and await further orders.
    On the way to the port, we passed the Blue Ridge River, along with the lively fishing colony. “One day, I want to just set up an umbrella there and just relax…” “Boring! I want to hang out at the Lanilor Coast, and just float on the water…” said Orla. “You know what would be really relaxing? If you two stayed quiet the rest of the trip!” exclaimed Kent, “But I’m so tired and my feet are killing me!” explained Orla. Kent didn’t reply, and the conversation went dead.
    After an hour of silence, we found ourselves at the port. There were a lot of ships. It was going to take a long time to find him in this enormous place. “Found him” said Marka as he pointed to the middle-east pier. We walked over to the white knight, “Ah, there you are, I was beginning to worry you weren’t going to show up!” he began, “Come on, the boat is about to take off” and so we followed the knight onto the ship.
    “This is captain Joseph, he helps the military in exchange for access to restricted trade routes” said one of the sailors. “You’re kidding me right? We’re taking this low class vessel?” complained Kent. “Oh don’t be a big baby! We’ll be fine” replied Orla.
    We walked down the deck to the living Quarters, the floorboards were rickety, I just hoped it could withstand out weight. I could hear the bells from the docks, and the call of the taverns’ local residents. The wind brushed through a few tiny holes in the Hull. There were a few ripped cots and some cracked benches. After a whole night of complaints from Kent, we fell asleep.
    I awoke on the hard wooden floor. “Valen, get up! We must defend the harbor!” said General Blackhawk, “Sorry sir, I must have dozed off” “Well get up! Raiders are coming on ships from the North-West!” I got up from the cold floor, grabbed my sword, and hopped on my horse. A crowd was running away from the harbor, so I just ran toward the opposite of them.
    The walls were stained with blood, oil, and shrapnel. The lanterns for late night travel were all shattered, I guess they planned on being here all night. I charged towards the docks, but as I got off my horse. I felt a swift thumping pain, and then everything when black.
    “Get up Valen, come on get up! We need you!” I opened my eyes and there was Marka, “Oh thank goodness you’re awake! Pirates have boarded our ship!” after that I quickly snatched my sword, and ran up to the deck.
    I gazed at the unclouded sun and then turned my sight toward the ropes being thrown across the ship. Kent ran towards the mast to find the captain and inspect the damage. Suddenly pirates started swinging and climbing on the ship, we were vastly out-numbered. Swords went flying, and cannons were fired, pirates surrounding us at all ends. I threw my sword in the air, as they gazed at it I got behind two of them, snatched my sword, and SLICE!
    The sailors were hiding below deck. Kent fought his way back to us as he said “well, the good news is the ship will last a while longer, the bad news is Joseph is dead” “darn it! I just hope we can find someone to sail this thing.” I took a quick gaze around the ship, “I have an idea! But the hull will take some serious damage” “Just do it!” commanded Marka, “okay then, just hold your positions, just stay away from the starboard!” I sprinted for the cannons and dumped the barrel of gunpowder and cut all the ropes, I sparked my blade against the steel supports near the gunpowder. The spark lit the gunpowder and I ran for the stern! The hull blew open and shrapnel went flying and hit the pirates!
    The ship was no longer docked with the enemy vessel and prevented further boarding. The explosion triggered a chain reaction and one by one blew the enemy cannons and there went the ship. “Oi! We surrender!” shouted one the remaining pirates. They all held their hands in the air and dropped their cutlasses. " Very well, Kent, tie them up and throw them in the cargo hold. Marka, you collect these cutlasses and dispose of the bodies” they did as they were ordered and all was finally calm, “Orla, you tell the crew that the ship is safe but we need them to help stop the flooding, I’ll see if I can get the ship moving” “Do you even know how to sail?” she asked, “No, but how hard can it be?” Kent was climbing back up the deck as I heard a muffled noise, “What was that Kent?” I asked, “I didn’t say anything” I heard the noise again. I glanced around the ship and saw a closed barrel, when I opened it out popped Joseph. “I said it’s actually pretty hard” said he, “Kent, I thought you said he was dead!” I began. “Oh well don’t get too happy, we have work to do” replied the Captain, “I couldn’t find him anywhere so I suspected the worse” Kent explained, “well in that case, you can sail this thing down to the port captain, we’ll keep this thing afloat” I said, “It won’t be that easy, with these damages she’ll only last a couple o’ hours” Explained Joseph. “Well just get us as close as you can”
    It took two hours but we finally docked, “The ship can’t take this anymore, we had to dock at Lanilor Coast” said the Captain, “So can I –“No” Kent cut off Orla. Everyone hopped off onto the sand. I turned around and the ship was sinking, “Nay me ship!” yelled Joseph. Water continued to flood the ship and after a few minutes it was nothing but a few planks and crates. “So we’re stranded miles away from civilization?” questioned one of the sailors. I faced the coast and stared at the tropical forest and wildlife, “Well, mount your horse and get ready for a long trip, we still have our orders” I said as I began to rip my sleeves for cool air.
    About ten minutes into the trip I decided to begin conversation, “So Joseph, how did you become a trader?” “ Well when I was a boy my father taught me how to fish, and he brought me fishing during his normal route. He taught me how to sail, and when I got older I began to assist him, and when he died ten years ago I took over the business. That ship was all I had left of him” “Oh, I’m sorry…” “It’s alright, you did what you had to, it was those darn pirates. I’m just glad we’re not dead, or worse.”
    “So Joseph, you never id tell us what our mission is” Marka brought up, “you mean they didn’t tell you?” “No, they said you would” “well then that’s too bad, because I didn’t hire you, I’m just taking you to the guy” Kent joined in and spoke, “wait, what do you mean hired? We’re soldiers not mercenaries” “well then where are we heading?” “Apparently at some sort of old ruins in the Blackwood forest” Kent walked in front of the captain and stopped, “wait, so let me get this straight, Commander Gerik sold us out to some random guy for a handful of gold?” “Aye it seems that way” “Well then I’m out of here, I didn’t know I was coming here for this” Kent said, “Corporal, as your commanding officer I order you to settle down, we’re going” I let out. “No, I’m not a mercenary, I will not –“Let me get two things straight Corporal, for one, we were ordered to do this job, so no matter what, we have to do it. And second of all, if our people are getting paid that much money to merely meet someone, the military can upgrade defenses and weapons” With that Kent grunted and hesitantly moved out of the way. Orla clapped a few quick times and smiled, then we moved forward.
    After about a mile we set up camp to last the night. Crickets were chirping and all was calm.