Soulstaff
Legacy: Generation
1
Blizzard War
Chapter One
Bludsin
17th, 605
"Arkos! Arkos,
I need some help over here!" a soldier called out from behind him as he cut
down another Crizzian warrior. Arkos
knew the person asking for his help. He
was part of his company, but he never learned his name.
In any case, that didn't matter now.
Arkos turned and saw the warrior trying to fight off three dwarves at
once.
Seventeen
years had passed since Arkos had been left on the doorstep of the Whitestar
Orphanage, and he was now a grown man enlisted in the Gontorian army.
He was Arkos Soulstaff of the Starlight Infantry Squad, a part of the
82nd company. He and his fellow
grunts had been sent to the frontline and before he knew it, he was fighting for
his life and the lives of his companions.
"Over
here!" he shouted at the dwarves, readying his sword.
Only one of them pulled away from the overwhelmed soldier and faced
Arkos. The dwarf shouted something
in a gruff, foreign accent and swung his mace at Arkos' leg, hoping to drop him.
Arkos hopped backward, nearly tripping over a corpse in the process.
He quickly regained his composure and guarded himself with his shield
while he waited for an opening. The
dwarf, in a frenzy, wasn't doing a great job at keeping his defenses up.
Arkos spotted a hole and went for it, stabbing the dwarf in the chest.
By the time he had removed his sword, the soldier he had helped had
dispatched his two remaining opponents.
"Thanks,"
the soldier grunted, a bit wounded. He
was about to say something else, when an arrow from above pierced through his
back and dropped him. Casting his
eyes skyward, Arkos saw a squadron of griffons with archers on their backs.
"Hoppin'
Hobgoblins," Arkos groaned as he found himself desperately avoiding raining
arrows. One archer in particular
seemed to have his eye on him and would not relent.
The boy was saved, though, when a bolt of lightning cut through the air
and fried both griffon and rider. Thankful
for the respite, Arkos hoped to catch his breath and mentally thank the wizards
of his company--if he made it out of this alive, of course.
However, he barely had more than a second before he heard a sound like
that of the screaming wind...followed by the actual screaming of men.
About 30 yards away, he saw a White Phoenix Knight conjuring an ice
elemental. "Great...just
great," the young warrior complained. He
mentally considered whether he should rush forward to help his fellow men (and
most likely be killed by the creature's ice breath) or put some distance between
himself and the frozen monster.
The
decision was made for him when he saw a bugbear warrior rushing toward him, his
spear ready. Praying for the
strength to not pass out in the middle of battle, Arkos steadied himself and
went into a proper defensive stance. He
prepared for a parry, but the bugbear did something unexpected.
The hairy beastman reversed his grip on the spear at the last second,
smashing the end into the side of Arkos' helmet.
The young soldier was knocked to the ground, sprawled out.
His ears ringing, he pried off his helmet just in time to see the bugbear
standing over him, about to thrust the spear's point downward.
Arkos quickly rolled to the left twice, narrowly avoiding the spear as
its head sunk into the blood soaked snow.
Dizzy,
Arkos got to his feet. The bugbear
grunted in annoyance and attempted the same tactic, which would have been far
deadlier without the protection of Arkos' helmet.
Luckily, Arkos saw it coming and was able to duck.
He then slashed his sword forward, but his opponent blocked it with the
shaft of the spear. The bugbear then
thrust the spear forward at Arkos' unprotected head.
Arkos tried to sidestep it, but he was exhausted from all the fighting.
He reacted too slowly and the spear's steel head bit into the side of his
head, just above his earlobe. The
young soldier lost his footing and the momentum of his attempted dodge sent him
back to the ground. His ear felt
sticky and very warm as blood poured over it.
Arkos
tried to get to his feet, but his head was spinning and everything was a blur.
His legs did not seem to respond to his mental commands.
The bugbear stepped forward, pausing a moment as if savoring his victory.
He once again brought his spear up over Arkos to pin him through his
heart. However, that moment of
hesitation cost the bugbear his victory, as a Gontorian soldier came up behind
him and slashed down his back with her sword.
The creature dropped his spear and toppled forward, landing on top of
Arkos. Assuming he was dead, the
Gontorian soldier ignored Arkos and ran off to find another opponent.
The
bugbear was very heavy and Arkos found he could not shove the corpse off of him.
The bite of the snow hurt his cheek as he lay on the ground, blood
dripping from his wound. Unable to
continue grasping to consciousness, the young soldier passed out--the sounds of
battle, and his comrades dying, all around him.
*
* * * *
Arkos
found himself hovering in darkness, barely aware of anything.
Where was he? Was he dead?
He wondered if perhaps that was for the best.
All the fighting was so tiresome. And
it wasn't like he, a poor orphan, had much to live for, he thought to himself.
"Arkos!"
"What?
Who?" he asked, recognizing the sweet, female voice calling to him.
But for some reason, he couldn't recall her name in this dark haze.
"Don't
give up yet. Remember?
You promised you'd come back!"
"I'm tired," he muttered in reply.
"So
you're going to abandon me? Just
like everyone else...?" the voice asked, fading in volume as she spoke.
"No!
Wait!" he cried, his strength renewed.
"I am not gonna leave you! I
promise!"
"Leave me? Hey, we just met.
Hey, Daeval! Over here!
We got a live one!"
"Wh...what?"
Arkos
suddenly felt very heavy and very cold. There
was a sharp pain in his head and he couldn't feel his toes.
Slowly, he opened his eyes. A
blurry kaleidoscope of colors assaulted his eyes.
Blinking a few times, the colors stopped moving and took shape.
A face was looking down at him, grinning.
"Just hold on there, champ. Help
is coming," he said.
"Is
it bad?" another voice asked.
"He'll
live...with your help. And if we get
this bugbear off of him."
Arkos
then heard some grunting and felt the weight of the corpse taken off of him.
A man whose face was covered with a white cowl knelt by his side and
placed his gloved hands on Arkos' chest. He
muttered something softly and soon Arkos felt a rush of warmth and peace spread
over his limbs, centering on the side of his head.
"There," the man said, standing and offering Arkos a hand.
Without hesitation, Arkos accepted it and was helped to his knees.
"Bouncin'
Beholders...I feel like a giant sat on my head," Arkos groaned, looking
around. The pandemonium of the
battlefield was gone. The only sound
was the harsh wind blowing. Bodies
were everywhere from both sides. There
was more red snow than white. "It's
over?" he asked.
"Yes,"
said the man in white. "I'm
afraid your side lost. Many were
killed, and a handful were captured. The
rest retreated."
"So...you're
on our side, right? Or am I a
prisoner now?"
"We're
not on either side, kid. We were
just passing through." Arkos
turned to the speaker, the one who woke him up.
Now that his head was more or less lucid, he was able to take in the
person's strange features. He was
only a couple feet tall, which made Arkos think he was a child at first.
But now looking at his face, he realized there was many years of wisdom
reflecting in his crimson eyes. The
figure had long, messy red hair full of twigs and pinecone chips.
He was wearing light purple robes and had no protection from the cold at
all, save a simple white cloak. And
Arkos realized that was more for camouflage than warmth.
However, the cold didn't seem to bother him at all.
In his hand was what looked like a stick of driftwood with a green
crystal on the end.
"You...you're
a..."
"Sprite.
Yeah, I know. I get that a
lot. I'm Kappa.
This here is Daeval," he said, gesturing to the man in white.
Daeval
removed his cowl, revealing a handsome face with pale skin, chiseled features,
almond shaped green eyes, and golden hair in a typical monk mushroom cut.
The feature that drew Arkos' eyes, however, were his pointed ears.
Arkos had seen several elves when living in Tennic, but this was the
first time one was smiling warmly at him, as opposed to scowling or stoically
ignoring him.
"And
you are?" Daeval prompted.
Arkos
blinked, realizing he had been staring. "Arkos.
Arkos Soulstaff. Starlight
Infantry Squad."
"What
an interesting name," Daeval commented.
"Arkos, the blue star, and Soulstaff, the legendary weapon of
Azedeth."
"Yeah,"
Arkos agreed. "You're a priest?
Thanks for, uh...savin' my life and all."
Daeval
nodded. He was bundled up in thick
furs, white studded leather armor, had leather gloves and boots, and a white
cloak and hood. However, the little
sunlight remaining glinted off of the golden sun-shaped medallion hanging from
his neck--the holy symbol of Azedeth, God of Life and Light.
"Can you walk?" he asked.
"I
think so." Arkos slowly got to
his feet, feeling a little dizzy but steady.
"I'm surprised that body didn't crush all my bones."
"Actually,
its warmth is probably what kept you alive this long," Kappa pointed out.
"In any case, we better get out of sight.
If a passing patrol doesn't spot us, all of this frozen meat is bound to
attract the remorhaz."
"Wait,"
Arkos said. "You said some of
my people were captured. Do you know
where they were taken?"
The
elf and sprite shared a look, and then Daeval answered.
"Yes. There is a bugbear
stronghold not far from here. They
were most likely taken there."
"Can
you show me the way? I have to do
what I can to save them."
"Kid...are
you crazy? You're a free man.
Let's just hide out until dawn, and then sneak you back to the
border," Kappa suggested.
"I'm
sorry. But I have a duty to help
them, if I can. There's no telling
what the enemy will do to them. I
won't leave them behind."
Again,
Daeval and Kappa share a concerned look. "Either
way," Daeval said, looking back to Arkos, "there is nothing that can
be done so close to night. We should
find a safe place to camp before we find trouble.
Or trouble finds us."
"Right,"
Kappa agreed. "Besides, you
need to heal up. Daeval kept you
alive, but you're hardly back in tip-top shape."
"All...All
right," Arkos agreed. "But
where are we going to find a safe place?"
"Leave
that to me, kid," Kappa grinned. "If
there's one thing we sprites are good at, it's hiding in nature's wild."
*
* * * *
Although
Arkos was skeptical, it turned out Kappa was not kidding about his ability to
find good hiding places. He led them
into a small forest to the north. Navigating
through it as if he had been there hundreds of times before, he brought them to
a small clearing with a frozen lake.
"I
think this is it. Yeah.
Just wait here a second," the sprite instructed.
He then started poking his staff into the snow at various points, as if
looking for something.
Shrugging,
Arkos sat down by the lake. The
trees helped give them some cover from ground troops, but air-borne units would
easily spot them in this glade. Reaching
over, he brushed some snow off of the lake's surface and examined his own
distorted reflection.
Arkos
was not an ugly man; in fact, he was often told he was rather handsome.
But he looked pretty haggard today. His
black hair was unkempt and had dried blood and grime rubbed into it.
His brown eyes were bloodshot and he had a rough five o' clock shadow
growing on his face. Although Daeval
had sealed the wound on his head, there was still a nasty scar.
He looked dead, in fact. It
was a wonder the sprite had even found him.
"Here
it is!" Kappa said in triumph. He
dug away some snow with his hands to reveal a small cave's mouth.
"We can hide out in here. Watch
your heads!" he laughed as he hopped down into the hole.
Arkos
was a little hesitant, but after Daeval climbed down, he followed.
Inside was a large cavern that more than accommodated the three of them.
It was surprisingly warm inside and the entire place was illuminated with
some kind of magical light. "Leapin'
Lizardmen...what is this place?" he asked.
"Oh,
we have little sanctuaries like this hidden all over the place.
Luckily this one wasn't occupied at present," Kappa answered.
He sat down in the middle of the room and slid off his backpack to open
it up and dig around inside. "I'm
starving. Let's eat!"
As
Kappa pulled out some bread, cheese, and other rations wrapped up in cloth,
Daeval took off his cloak, armor, and some of his extra furs.
Arkos realized it was starting to get hot in here, and decided to do
likewise. He removed his chain mail
piece by piece, and set it off to the side.
He then took off his gloves, unbuckled his sword, and removed three of
the four sets of clothes he had on. Then
the three sat and ate together.
Arkos
decided to break the silence. "You
two are Gontorian, right? What are
you doin' up here if you're not in the war...if you don't mind me askin'?"
"We
are searching for someone," Daeval replied.
"Who?"
"It's not important, kid. You
should really be thinking more about what you're going to do," Kappa
responded.
"Why
do you keep calling me 'kid'? You
look a lot younger than me."
"Oh,
yeah? How many centuries have you
lived?" Kappa asked with a sly smile.
"Uh...centuries?
Well, uh, none..."
"That's
what I thought. You look like you
haven't even seen a score yet. But
me and Daeval, well...I'll put it this way.
Daeval's younger than me, but I was all ready fully grown by the Golem
War."
Arkos nearly choked on his food at that remark.
"The Golem War was almost four hundred years ago!"
"Yeah,
yeah. Enough about us old fogies.
What are you going to do tomorrow morning, kid?"
Arkos
drank some water from his canteen and cleared his throat.
"If I had been captured, I would want to be saved.
It can't be coincidence that I lived and that you found me and healed me.
I think Azedeth wants me to do this."
"You
are a man of faith then?" Daeval asked.
"It does seem strange that we were lucky to pass by just as we
did."
Kappa
groaned. "So Azedeth wants us
to get killed in a suicide mission?"
"Us?"
asked Arkos. "You don't have to
go with me...I just need to be shown the way."
Kappa
shook his head. "It doesn't
work that way."
"My small friend is right. I
agree, I think Azedeth did bring us together for a reason.
We could not, in good conscience, let you go alone," Daeval said.
"But
I thought you said you were neutral?"
"In politics, we are. But your
companions are still our countrymen. And
besides...we have hit a dead end in our search.
Perhaps if we help you, we will come across another clue," Daeval
responded.
"All
right. Thanks...again.
I don't know how I'm ever gonna pay you back for savin' me and helpin' me
like you have."
"Nah,
this is what we do, right, Daeval? Now
let's get some rest." The
sprite sighed forlornly. "I
have a feeling we're going to need it."
