Blood and Starlight

I stood as perfectly still as stone as Hrothulf charged toward me. I took a step to just barely be missed by the blade of Hrothulf's cutlass. I turned gracefully, but quickly to face Hrothulf as he charged behind me, and without a doubt would turn to face me. My face betrayed no emotions, but my eyes held his and refused to release them. I held up my spear, the point level with where his heart would be. I felt the dark energy pulsating from the weapon the Tarvannan king held. It was sick, wretched, tainted... a reminder of everything the Ontario did to deserve the hatred of their people and of all of Arras. Hrothulf could use his tainted magic, I had my own. I focused, and simply held my hand up, and released what seemed to be a dart of fire from my free hand. It traveled as faster than an arrow from a bow, and I quickly charged behind it, Yari level with Hrothulf's heart.

The Red Lion began faltering as the room began to fill with more and more wicked magic flowing from Tarvanna's newest underling. Many of the Senators has long since fled the room, and the Emperor and his personal guard had managed to almost make it to the exit, though not without making quick work of the ghouls that had attacked them. Emperor Kilvan glanced up, and could not conceal a smile. "Lunar Corp! Fire at will! do not relent!" A voice called from the rows of seats that surrounded the inner dais. It was none other than Lon Emant, General of the Lunar Corp. On his order, the sounds of a thousand arrows raining down on the enemy could be heard, none of which missed their mark. In an instant, five hundred arrows had found or nearly found their marks, killing a ghoul or wounding it. The Red Lions continued to fall back, especially now that some kind of insect swarm seemed to burst from the strange man, but they hacked and slashed left and right, thinning the numbers as best they could.

I felt the blow in my abdomen, and lashed out in vain as Hrothulf stepped back, rage making its way through the calm. "You bastard! God keep all his blessings from you! Burn in the inferno!" I shouted, now clutching my stomach as the resistance to pain left with the calm. Yari flashed in and out, until it disappeared as I lost the focus keeping it here. I lashed out with flaming waves, that flew out and dissipated a few feet from myself, rage and hatred fueling their power, but they ultimately did not make it closer than a foot from Hrothulf's being, though it engulfed the minions before him. "Damn him..." I said, and then collapsed to one knee, but not before striking the nearest ghoul in the most violent punch I could muster.

"Enemy Fire!" Lon called, rolling out of the way of the magical energies Hrothulf had fired. Most Lunar Corp got out of the way easily enough, but four of them simply did not have the skill or luck to do so, and began screaming in pain as their flesh rotted from their bones. The rain of arros did not relent, however, and when the numbers had been substantially thinned, a quick, high-pitched whistle from Lon summoned forth the sound of five hundred blades leaving their scabbards. The Lunar Corp then charged into the fray, cutting down the ghouls that remained. The Emperor stood behind the still entrenched Red Lions, visibly relieved, but an aura of anger could be felt from his as well. We had lost the Flag-Ship of Agasaria's air-fleet, and several very powerful mages. This was a crushing blow. Emperor Kilvan moved aside the Red Lion's now that the battle was done, and surveyed the damage. The Senate Chamber itself was relatively undamaged, but corpses littered the building, some of Senators. I hobbled over to Kilvan, and simply said "What now?"

The surprise attack of Hrothulf and the betrayal of the strange digging man had left their marks on the inner-most section of Musari. The people called for the death of Hrothulf, and for the ultimate destruction of Agasaria’s most hated enemy, the Kingdom of Tarvanna. The Senate quickly reconvened and approved Kilvan’s Call to Arms. The ranks of Agasaria’s military swelled, and their number far surpassed that of Tarvanna. At first glance, the war seemed one sided. But this story was far from the truth. Agasaria’s troops were tattered, exhausted, and war-weary. The bulk of the army was new recruits, barely trained, and far from the professional powerhouse that made up the Tarvannan military.
This was why I was making my way to the border of Turobian in this ragged carriage, dressed as a common beggar with no escort. Turobian was our oldest and most trusted ally. They remained neutral in the Civil War, understandably, but this was another matter completely. We had no questions about whether they would help us or not…until we came to the border city of Al-Rashen. High above the gates flew not the turban and moon of Turobian, but the menacing ruby Eye of Tarvanna. “God damn that man…” I whispered, as the carriage pulled to a stop at a Tarvannan soldier’s raised hand.
The soldier’s armor was a brilliant gold, though I knew it was solid steel merely colored to resemble the precious metal. Not a single part of the man was visible, but the voice was distinctly human. “Hold. Agasarians are not permitted to enter Turobian at this time. They do not wish to be brought into this war. Turn around at once.” It was a simple enough command, and it explained why no refugees had begun to flock to the nation. The driver, though, was a smart enough fellow. “May we camp by the walls tonight then? We have come from a very far distance.” He said, in a slighty Eastern accent. The guard looked him up and down, and sighed and pointed his halberd to the left. “You may wait in the gulley over there. One night is all you get.” He said, and then returned to his post as the driver whipped the horses to the gulley.

He noticed the rather large carriage riding into the gulleys of Turobian. But he also kinda eavesdropped on the conversation. War? Could this be the war with Tarvanna that the Sultan mentioned in the meeting had attended earlier that day? He made his best effort to walk over casually and not like he overheard anything, just play it off cool.

"Excuse me?...It seems you're not from this town..The carriage and everything shouts some other place.." Gently tapping his chin, then his forehead. Gasping he looked back to the group. "You! You're from Agasaria aren't you?" His eyes and body moving about, making sure to inspect every detail and sure enough, it was Agasarian. "Ah! So much about the great empire! It's an honor to meet you! Oh..Pardon my rudeness.. I'm Ernest. I'm an explorer."

Ernest was a strange man, young in age for one. He carried a strange shield on his back with inscriptions that was a language like no other. He wore a hat and simple comfortable clothes for maneuvering and moving around in. "You see.. I was on my way to Agasaria because I was looking more into the being who defied Death more times than any other..And the Turobian Sultan was guiding me and insighting me some." Pulling out a scroll from his pack and opening it. "But since your here..I think you could help me, and I could help you..Whatdya say?"

I was stepping down from the carriage when the man walked over to us. I quickly whispered a few words, preparing a spell, and felt the fire dance along my fingertips. The carriage driver, my only 'guard' simply moved his hand to his sword. Unknown to most was that this 'man' was also an elf, and what he lacked in strength he made up for with speed and agility. The man who addressed us did not look like a Turobian citizen, but as he spoke, a bit of suspicion went away, though not much. "Hold, traveler. You're a bit too close." I said as he moved to inspect the carriage, and shouted in glee as he noticed our nationality. The elf's grip tightened on his hilt, but he made no other moves, and neither did I. "I be Aliard...a merchant from the South of Agasaria." I said with a peasant accent. "That man be Dasun. He be me bodyguard." I continued, looking the man up and down. He didn't seem very dangerous, but then again, people who were rarely seemed so.

When he mentioned the being that defied death, only one name came to mind. Kah, Agasaria's legendary hero. I was not sure whether to reveal any secrets of him or not, but time would tell. "Well Ernest, maybe we can be a help to each other. I can tell ye what I know about Kah...and ye can help me into Turobian...aye? Ye can do that?"

Ok, his mother always told him that eavesdropping was a bad thing. Well he convinced himself she had, considering the doubt of her ever existing. Shaking his black locks that curled from sweat, Victor tried to gather more from the conversation with this 'explorer' and the other two that practically bled purple from every pore. As in magic. How interesting.. He sat with his legs crossed and his back to the group. He could most defiantly see them, even through the black blindfold. The city had fallen into panic, and he being the lovable anti-hero he was, was rather affected by it. He had been innocently pick pocketing a fat, greasy merchant, never women, nor children, nor those who needed what they little they had...thats twisted morals for ya. But back to his innocently pilfering of coin, he had to eat, no? He would have gotten the engorged purse too, until panic took hold of everyone. Hence all the refugees. The harrowing blues and reds of panic and hostility that had danced about his unique vision, his 'luck', had terrified him. He fled from any hint of red and was left by his lonesome some miles outside the city, until that caravan passed by. He'd followed, at a distance, his luck kept tabs on the purple pair, dressed in rags as they were they had some powerful spells at there fingertips. And here he was, his mind may be able to work ten times faster than your average intellect, rather wasted on a street rat such as him, but he struggled with what happened. It had been a perfectly normal day, what happened? His shadowed form gave off an unnerving aura, and he tensed as attention turned on him, the marine blue was spiking with orange...suspicion laced with nervousness and wrapped up in a bow of secrecy..His curiosity would be the death of him. Turning he announces in what was hopefully a friendly tone "Why hello thar! Would you mind tellin as to what the bloody hell just happened?" his eyes were covered so he had every appearance of a blind man, if they only knew that they were revealed to him in such perfect colour and shape..if only they knew...he hoped not that would mean he'd be caught eyeing that man's pretty sheild.

The elf drew his sword in a single swift motion as yet another man drew near to us. The glanced at the new man, and took note of his apparent blindness, but remained cautious. I no be knowin' who ye are, but ye be in a dangerous place. Tarvanna seems ta be in control of some border cities of the Kingdom a Turobian... I said, stating nothing that could give away more than a commoner could know. The elf moved closer to the two, and looked them up and down, obviously annoyed that we could not speak elvish without exposing ourselves. Mr. Ernest...we be knowin about Turobian city...but we can no get to it with the Tarvannan guard...but you did, aye? I said, looking at him with a pleading face. The elf eyed the blind man, obviously not enjoying his presence, but seemed to be forcing himself to tolerate him.

Victor's palms flew to his temples as he stumbled back a few paces. Bloody hell, they went from orange to red in a heartbeat. Damn well hostile then, trying to calm the situation before it turned on its head he quickly amends "Woah now, no need for swords" or magic, no spells were apparent but the pair never stopped oozing purple. "I was wonderin as streets of Agasaria dissolved into panic, few had any idea as to what was going on..a lot died" red, black and red, everywhere. He had been lucky enough to have escaped with nothing more than a bloodied lip and blackened cheekbone, his sight was rather plain grey if their were little people about, only basic shape and detail apparent to him. He really only got bloodied Ana bruised because he'd stumbled into this and that. He made sure to know exactly where in his boot he kept his butterfly knife, he wouldnt last against such well armed people, magically at least, but hopefully it would not get to that stage. Turning to the supposed explorer "you mentioned being from from outside Agasaria" did such a thing exsist? But then again" Everyplace is dangerous, but I must say your accent sounds off for people from Agasaria" he had been around all kinds of the accents and people of Agasaria, none of them sound like that, or are practically swathed in purple, magic ability for that matter either.

The blind man was pushing us farther than I would have liked, but I wasn't going to to give up our secret until we were in front of the Turobian Sultan. First, of course, we had to get into Ral-Hashad...From there, Turobian city was only a two day journey. "Aye...war has come. The Kingdom a Tarvanna has invaded Agasaria...and sacked tha capital, Musari. They also be in control of tha south, my homeland. Tha Empire be in trouble...And we need to be getting out. I said, keeping my hold on my magic, but moving into less of a battle stance. "Dasun an I be needin to get into Ral-Hashad...and if the two of ye be able to do it...we be willing to pay. I said, looking between the two. The elf snorted, but put his sword away. He then went to the carriage, and returned with a bag of silver, tossing it into my hands, the sound clear to whoever was standing nearby. "I be payin ya silver, and for Ernest, I get ye into the Imperial library, and ye can learn all about Kah ye like. Do we be havin a deal?