Chapter 6 Shadows Part 2

The wind howled into the blackened night, barely masking the click clacks made by a certain feline. Harka, who was halfway to the middle of Aelkeep made use of his agility in free running over the tops of some of the homes that were still lit up in the evening snow. He did his best that with every landing he would not use his claws to dig into the snow as he didn't want to accidentally pierce the rooftops of some of the thinner roofed buildings. Though with the last house he cleared, he hit a small patch of ice that made him dig in or face falling from a four story building into a back alley. “Oops...” he grimaced. “Hopefully no one will notice that...” He stopped for a moment, scanning the area around him as he took in a deep breath of the cold evening air that the wind had brought while the snow continued swirling around him. A second gust of wind came barreling towards him, though with this gust, something felt off as his ears perked up and his sense dissected the air around him. His ears twitched and focused in on the sounds around him but all he could hear was the howling winds that muffled everything else. Using his sense of smell he could tell that something didn't smell right to him at all. His nostrils were flooded with scents that swirled around him. Fresh meats being cooked, burning metal, smoke from the chimney tops, all commonplace but one he singled out was different. It was a strange scent he had never smelled before and he could not place it with anything in his mind. "What is this? Hmmmm...odd" he thought for a moment. Though this new scent didn't directly affect him in any way as of yet, his feline nature had caught the best of him and decided to move towards this new smell. He took a running start and rushed over the next few roofs, carefully timing his jumps between each home, this time not worrying about the damage that his claws could cause to the rooftops. Harka followed the smell past several more homes until he saw a home that was higher than most others, a perfect vantage point for him. In his full tilt, he leapt onto the siding of the home and clawed his way up to the top of the roof. He walked towards the edge and knelt over the siding. He took in a large sniff and gazed at the eastern gates. “It's coming from over there...” he thought. He took a moment and looked out towards the eastern gates, focusing on the area around it until he saw an unusually large gust of wind and snow whip through the town and come racing over the rooftops. Harka braced himself and dug into the roof and held on to the ledge as the overpowering typhoon of snow and ice ripped through the town. "The hell!? Where did this wind come from? It was calm just a moment ago!" The rime laced wind whipped around the streets, forcing people that were still out to retreat into back alleys or into the safety of their homes and inns. The rime wind was strong enough that soon it was able to extinguish all of the street lamps that had been lit throughout the entire town, leaving the city in dark and foreboding setting. Harka was covered in a thin layer of frost that he quickly shook off after the strong gust had left the town. He was confused by this strange weather pattern, thinking to himself that this couldn't possibly be natural. Harkas ears perked up once more as his puzzlement was sat aside to a knew dilemma. He gazed back towards the eastern gates, listening to thuds coming out of the wind, thuds that Harka felt were coming from outside of the town. Within seconds of hearing the thuds, a gargantuan, shadowy, protruding hump could be seen just barely above some of the homes but with the snowfall and the wind, Harka could not see exactly what it was that had barged through the eastern gates. Harka became concerned in an instant as a small gust of wind brought another smell that was wafting all around him now. "Carrion?...!" Harka said to himself as a numbing chill ran through his entire being. Harka was no longer curious but concerned "Something that big that brings the smell of carrion on the wind just happened to wander into town right before a blast of rime wind...” Harka reached behind his cloak and the sound of two clasps unsnap. “I have a bad feeling that this isn't going to end well without a distraction." Harka picked up his pace, rushing towards the last known place of the shadow, hoping that his senses were off and that he was just catching a cold.

Chapter 6 Shadows Part 1

Chapter 6 Shadows

The wind gained strength as it blew across the clear farm lands while the snow fall above Aelkeep thickened, constantly replenishing the lush carpet of white the wind loved to twirl. Evening, a cold and biting one had come to then denizens of Aelkeep but they did not fear the icy teeth and howling winds that hid in the darkness. Why would they? The people of Aelkeep were a hearty enough people that, if some unknown aberration came in the middle of the night with a gnawing hunger and the urge to bite, then the people would be inclined to bite right back. Lamp lighters employed by the town watch carried torches dipped in specially treated waxes along with other magically powered devices to help light the lamps scattered around the city. The lamps were also treated with an alchemical wax to help keep the fires burning until the light of day touched them or doused by other means besides that of the wind. The faint glow the candles put off, warmed some hearts and souls while it filled others with slight annoyances of memories long past. "Graven, hurry up! We are almost at the Inn. Come on slow poke." Graven who was filling the role of beast of burden, had been drug around the city practically all day by Talya and was loaded down with boxes or bags that contained alchemical reagents along with gifts for shrines. Graven had just about enough of the foolishness but for his own sake he persevered through it. "Give me a moment to adjust my grip. You do realize that we have been running around the city all day without a moments. How is it that you have such energy to burn?" Talya smiled at him and chuckled a bit. "Alright then, we'll slow down since the big, strong man needs his rest ha ha." Graven smiled slightly as he knew that she was only joking. She was enjoying herself with the company she hadn't seen in years and to his astonishment, Graven was also enjoying himself to a degree, whether he wanted to admit it or not . It felt very nice to have someone to talk to on a somewhat even ground but Graven did not let his emotions gets the better of him. Quite the opposite spectrum, more or less reigning them in and keeping them far away from Talya. Graven thought to himself as he looked up towards the lanterns "Who knows what she would do or think if she knew about the real me. It would be best that she never gets to attached." “Graven, hey what's...?” Talya noticed that Graven had stopped moving and had seemingly froze in place. The orange and yellow aura that the lantern exhumed thinly covered Graven. She looked closer and noticed his eyes reflecting the flames that danced in the wind as the snow swirled around him and left without a nod. For a moment Talya caught herself looking over Graven from top to bottom, studying every part of his body with a slight blush and the turn of her cheek. She gripped her cloak near her heart, turned back and took a few steps closer to Graven. “Graven...” He slowly turned his head down towards her, his face half illuminated by the lantern glow. “Yes Talya?” “I...I...wanted to...say that..!” Talya's eyes flashed wide open for a moment as if a thunderous noise had roared from behind and frightened her. She quickly turned around, reaching into her cloak for an unknown object. She began to breathe deeply and at a rapid pace while looking from side to side but she couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. A perplexed look came across her as she looked down at the ground. Inquisitively she knelt down to the snow covered street and put her hands on the ground for a moment, focusing intently on something that could not be seen or heard. Graven looked slightly puzzled at her behavior and knelt down beside her. "Talya? What's wrong? Are you feeling alrig-" "Shhhh!" Talya quickly interrupted as she kept her palms on the ground. With her eyes closed she opened her senses and channeled them through the ground. They raced through the streets along the snow and wind until they were met with what one could only describe as a gargantuan shadow. Her senses pulled back to her again, her face immediately becoming pale. Graven knew immediately that something was amiss and put his hand on her shoulder. “Talya. What is going on?” "I can feel something...dark...full of hunger and malice...headed this way. It is massive Graven." Graven looked around for a moment as Talya had done before but couldn't see anything. He closed his eyes and with a few quick gestures, focused all of his energies into the area around him to try and sense or detect anything with his magic. He was quickly bombarded with small incantations from local magicians and other small happenings in various homes, no large surges in magical energies. “Something massive with no trace of magic huh?” Graven decided to follow Talya and put his hands to the ground. He poured a small amount of magic into his fingers to heighten his senses for a short moment, concentrating. "thump....thump" a faint tremor could be felt that was slowly growing in intensity as Graven rose up from his position, swearing that the snow had shifted for a moment. "The hell?" Talya stood up rather quickly and stared in the direction the vibrations were coming from. "I think it would benefit us if we found a safe place retreat to or to watch from. Perhaps up on the roof of one of the homes or in one?" Graven smiled with a nefarious grin. He'd been dying for a chance to stretch his magic in the sense of muscles since he had left his home some weeks ago. Graven also thought that this might give him the opportunity to either make some quick koriya and gather some much need materials for his craft in alchemy, depending on what was making the tremor of course. "Personally, I think we should invite it out to dinner since it ruined my initial plan of taking you out somewhere nice. Let us see what this something is, what it's up to and take the date from there, what do you say my dear?" Talya looked concerned at the thought, that this was a bad idea but she nodded in agreement and followed Graven towards the tremors. Hoping that whatever shadow she had seen that was making the tremors would not pick up their scent and hunt them through the city

Chapter 5 Swordsman Part 2

The fight began in a blaze of howling steel and bone as the old man rushed toward Shell at lightning speed, stirring up fresh snow as he slashed at Shell in all directions with the grace of a crane even though he was toting around such a cumbersome weapon. Never having faced such an opponent, all Shell could do was parry and deflect the barrage of attacks slung at him as his own speed could not even come close to this apparently master swordsman of sorts to strike back after the parry. "What are you doing lad?!” the old man called out “This is a sparring match! Not a one sided fight against a straw training dummy! Attack me already!" The old man landed a few more quick strikes in succession on Shells blade, then caught him off guard with a quick slash to his blade that then slid past the hilt and slashed his upper arm as quick as lightning. A crimson spray of droplets littered the white blanket of snow on the ground as Shell began to bleed from his sword arm, a fairly deep gash to the muscle that required immediate medical attention and would not be wise to move unless one wanted further damage. The old man flicked his sword towards the ground, cleaning some of the blood off of his blade. "I think this concludes our sparring match lad" the man said as he had drawn first blood. He began reaching into one of his back satchels for something and pulled out a vial of blue liquid. “I told you I wasn't going to mortally wound you son, I do how-” Then man looked back towards Shell and his eyes lit up with amazement and extreme caution. Shells entire right arm had been consumed and ignited into what one could only see as a dark purple flame that emanated from his left hand. He quickly shoved the flames inside his wounds and with a wince and grimace of pain, the flames went to work, quickly stitching muscle and mending the flesh. Though the fire mended flesh, one could tell that it caused the same amount of pain as would a typical unction of healing salves.

 "This fight isn't over yet." The old man was left stunned for a moment until he was able to grip his sword tighter, uttering a single word. "Impossible." The wound closed with a fiery black flash and once the flames cleared, Shell struck out without warning and went on the offensive, slashing at any point that he could reach with his blade. Though Shell was younger than his challenger and may have been stronger, he was severely outmatched by the skill of this old man. The old man was able to deflect and guard against each blow that Shell threw his way. The old man then changed up the tempo of the fight when he switched to an unknown fighting stance which forced Shell from offense to defense once again without the old man so much as breaking a sweat. The snow falling around them swirled along with what was being kicked up by their movements and with every sword swipe, almost as if the snow was trying to avoid being caught in each clash from the swords. When the two blades would clash, a sickening song rang out into the howling winds while sparks were thrown with every clash of their blades. After quickly dodging one of Shells attacks, the old man was able to catch Shell off guard as he targeted Shells weapon with an upwards strike to the hilt of the sword that sent it flying in the air. The old man quickly pulled his weapon straight down over Shells head, though somehow Shell reacted quickly enough to throw his right hand out in front of the blade. A brief flicker of light came into view as Shell quickly channeled some of his energy into his hand and once the blade came within striking, the flicker turned into a crystalline patterned shield that repelled the blade and repulsed the man back a few feet, then shattered into dust which was swept up with the snow.

"What in the nine hels?" The old man stayed his advance for a moment to assess the situation as it had changed to a great unknown for the old swordsman. "You've got more tricks up your sleeve than a common street magician. Now explain to me, how is it that you would not only know techniques of the Dark Arts that are forbidden in Morhurst but you are also able to use a technique that has been passed down through the Holy Knights regiment of Arkoria for years? Those two schools of war were never integrated and only select few from each school ever became users of those arts." Shell caught his breath for a moment and walked towards his sword. “How is it that one such as yourself, with no distinguishing marks of either regiment know so much? You look like a warrior, not a scholar, yet you bear no sigil of your allegiance but carry intelligence of those schools.” He picked up the blade and pointed it directly at the old man, bracing himself for another attack. "I learned them from a friend of mine if you must know.” The old mans eyes helped give off a concerned look from that response. “I thought that you said there would be no danger to my life for this match but when I saw that I might have been wrong I used those techniques. What about your end of the bargain? I thought you said you would not harm me?" The old man kept a stern look on his face as he gripped his sword a little tighter. "I hadn't planned on hurting you but you must understand that sometimes accidents happen when one gets caught up in the heat of battle. I am sure you can understand that. Let us continue then." The old man slid his hand across his sword as a white and blue aura covered the blade which began to pulse almost like a heartbeat. The old man continued the fight as he took out after Shell like another lightning bolt and unleashed an awe inspiring display of swordsmanship upon him in a flurry of blade strikes that seemed to chill Shells blade any time his sword clashed with this newly empowered blade of magic. Shell continued to deflect each strike as he dug deep within his mind to think of a way to win this seemingly impossible duel. An image came to his mind and with a second wind befalling the beaten down Shell, he was now determined to win. Shell had parried one slash with a spectacular increase in his speed and with an albeit, foolhardy yet well placed side kick to the stomach of his rival, sent him flying back a moment. The man coughed for a second to catch his breath as he though to himself "How in the world did he get so fast all of a sudden? Who has this boy trained with or where?" The old man got back up on his feet with a chuckle “Now that was foolish lad. Ya could've lost your leg but I guess that was something you were willing to part with.” Shell quickly ran his hand along the blade of his sword that swelled up with a dark crimson aura that swirled around the entire sword as the old mans eyes closed a bit and he decided that it was time to end the fight. Once the old man had opened his eyes up again he thrust his sword into the ground and quickly poured all of his mystical energies into his sword hands and somehow was able to conjure seven additional swords of varying length and of different designs than his own. Shell's eyes lit up with the thought that he just might loose more than his pride in this battle as he held the crimson drenched blade in a defensive manner. The blades began to swirl and hover around the man emitting low hums, glowing in the same blue fashion as his sword then he called out to Shell saying "This battle is over my young friend." Shells mind began to race for a moment in time as to how he could ever hope to win and then his memories flickered, revealing quick flashes and images of something that Shell thought might just help save his life. The blades swirling around the old man, along with himself flew towards Shell at a speed he couldn't fathom to match but he had to if he wanted to survive. When the seven swords came withing striking distance of him, he took what his mind had shown him in that brief point in time. The first sword came in for a slash to his torso but was barely dodged, then the second and third blades came for his arms. Dodging as best he could while the blades managed to catch the tops of his shoulders. The fourth through the seventh came striking in all directions but were dodged with minimal cuts to his outer thighs and across his nose. Shell quickly brought his sword up to his side just in time to feel the clash of icy inertia that was pooled into his opponents blade. The two blade auras mixed into a fierce concoction that pulsed with a force that was so great it managed to push Shell back a few feet while the old man withdrew from the offensive for a moment to catch his breath. He marveled at how Shell was able to dodge most of the blades while only receiving minor cuts from his technique as it was originally developed to end duels. His stunned manner quickly turned to that of intrigue though as Shell gripped his right side. Looking down, he noticed that there was a deep gash and that it was more than likely from the blade being pushed up against him and withdrawn quickly in one action. Somehow the old mans blade had slipped through a crack in his armor. Shell could now feel the sharp pain in his side as his over tunic became stained with red while blood trickled down his leg, forming a pool in the snow. Shell plunged his sword into the ground and used his newly freed hand to focus some of his energy and called forth a small dancing flame but it was not the same dark flame seen before. This flame was of a bright white and red color that felt soothing to look upon by the old man. Shell then placed his hand over his wound and the flame leapt onto his tunic, slowly burning away the pooled blood and seeping into the gash. The wound began to mend itself as Shell grimaced for a moment. Once the wound had closed and healed itself, the flames were dispelled with a bright, white flash, leaving no visible scars.

The old man raised an eyebrow of inquisition as he knew now that he was not just dealing with some amateur swordsman traversing the plains at evening during a blizzard. He knew something was different about this boy. The boy had ample skill in his bones and potential to be a knight, but things didn't feel quite right for him. The old man wicked the blood off of his sword and the sheathed his blade. "Three Arts of different origins and classes which takes not just skill but sometimes years of training to even use correctly. You are able to call upon them albeit not as quickly as some, yet for someone who doesn't look a day over twenty seven you seem to have no trouble with them and you claim you are no swordsman? You are not a knight by any standards, you are no mage by my standards and I haven't seen a Mage Swordsman of sorts in some time. Who are you boy and how do you know of those techniques? Better question, who taught you?" Shell cleaned off his blade and then sheathed it as he was done fighting. He knew he had lost the fight and that in the long run, he was no match for this old man. "My name isn't important or it shouldn't be. I am a wandering no one. Why does it matter that I have learned this arts anyway? Why don't you inform me of who you are and what you truly mean or want?" The old man smirked a bit and began to divulge a little bit of information about himself. "Since your name isn't important than neither is mine my friend, and what I mean and want to know is how you know techniques from opposing spectrums that were used in the last great war over four hundred years ago that are rarely seen today. Not to mention my trump card as you saw for yourself, was designed in the last great war to end a duel in one fell swoop. Usually against an enemy Commander or even a King but I digress. Not many people should know how to defend against it. How is it that you do is what begs me to question your origins or intentions. Perhaps you are an assassin, playing opossum until the moment is right?" Shell began to walk towards the man, wincing slightly as he was still in some pain from the blow earlier. "I guess I just got lucky to be honest" said Shell but when he began to walk closer to the old man and then past him, Shell felt very strange, almost angry. Who was this man? Why did his memories flicker for a moment? How does he know so much? Shell passed the man and he turned his head towards the old swordsman. "My name is Shell. I'm not a swordsman or mage, just a traveler right now. In regards to my skills, I learned them not too long ago from a friend of mine. Was our small duel enough to quench your thirst?" The old man turned towards Shell as he was passing and smiled. "No I am afraid. Now you have captured my curiosity lad and I would love to see what you are really made of but that will be for another day, when we meet again. I don't think you realize it but you have great potential, Shell the traveler, perhaps the next time we meet you can best me with a blade or whatever you desire and see if this old mans thoughts ring true." The two warriors started walking their own separate ways, though both of them left with a curious twinge of the other. Shell, wondering just who this old man really wash and how he would know that they would meet again? The old man was left wondering how an ancient technique was rendered nearly ineffective by some random traveler who was not only able to use the forbidden dark arts but also the arts of the Holy Knights of Arkoria and the mystic arts of a mage. "That boy is something else. He could've easily become a knight to the throne with that skill. He could also become a threat to it just as easily" thought the old man as the snow began to pick up and whip around the area, blanketing the crimson laced snow  as both of their bodies faded into the whiteout until they could no longer see one another.

It felt like hours had flown by since Shells battle in the bitter cold. Evening was now fast approaching and it would soon be dark enough that one would not be able to see his own hand in front of his face in the small white out that was slowly gaining strength with each passing moment. Shell was beginning to worry while he continued on through the plains up until he reached the edge of the forest line. Seeing the great wall of dense trees brought some positive thinking as he thought to himself "It shouldn't be that much further." He looked back behind him, out into the open plains now being consumed by the white out and wondered about the old man. "That old codger's probably better off than I am. A nice warm set of leathers and that blade arm of his, I seriously doubt anything would come after him or try to do him harm." Shell eyes widened as the sound of multiple howls from unseen beasts could be heard off in the distance. Though Shell felt he was well enough away from whatever made the noise, it still shook his bones for a moment, recalling a past run in with something that sounded similar to what he had just heard. "Perhaps it's best not to worry about the old man right now." Shell gripped his sword and picked up his pace from a walk to a light jog and entered the forest in hopes that he would soon come upon Aelkeep and be out of reach of the beasts that may have picked up his scent or tasted his frozen blood on the plains.