Fantasy Lost Glory . [ closed ]

[PhoenixMire]

She seemed decent enough. The keyword being seemed. Frey didn’t know how much to trust her words, but he had to ask an important question anyway...

“Wait,” he said, hoping to stop her in her tracks before she left.

Frey lightly bit his lip, looking at her as a moment of silence passed between them. “If you’re from the Temple of the Fallen...” How much should he say? And should he even sell off Patchwork? The little girl seemed almost innocent; she was just amnesiac and confused. She was undead, sure, but didn’t seem threatening.

But obviously he wasn’t so quick to trust. It was easy for some people to put on a facade, after all. He hesitated and shifted his weight, resting a hand on his hip. “Well, I heard some rumors that you were looking for an undead kid. I... haven’t found anything like that yet, but if I happen to stumble across something like that in the future, how much would you pay?” He pressed his lips into a line. “And why are you looking for the kid, anyway? Is it dangerous?”

 

[StarryKnights]

Emmie paused, looking over her shoulder she regarded Frey with curious eyes.

“…You’ve heard correct, we’ve put out a bounty on one such creature. But I hesitate to call it a child”. She turned around and crossed her arms over her chest.

“I cannot say much, for the full details you would need to speak with my chapter leader, but simply put...That creature is an unholy creation of a powerful and spurned creature… One who seeks to spread its rot and destruction across the world. As servants to Our Lady Death, we must ensure such a force is captured and destroyed, for the safety of all”.

She smiled. “Should you come across anything relating to this subject, I encourage you to contact us…here, hold out your hand”, she offered him her right hand.

“I shall give you a glyph you can use to contact us”.

 

[PhoenixMire]

So apparently the child wanted the world to rot? Frey wondered how true that was. Thus far she hadn’t shown much inclination to do something like that... but of course she’d killed that man on their first meeting. And it would probably be easy for her to be putting on a facade of amnesiac innocence.

He narrowed his eyes at the woman. “A glyph? It won’t do anything to me, will it?” He didn’t trust her enough to let her touch him - let alone get near him with her odd magic. Who knew what the glyph would do?

“I’d rather you just tell me where your leader is, so I can contact them on my own terms.” He shied away a little from the woman, not willing to let her too close. He had learned to be a wary person.

 

[StarryKnights]

Emmie frowned.

“Well, our leader is lady Mera…but she tends to move around a lot. It would be much easier to contact her with the glyph…but if you insist on doing so yourself…you can send correspondace to our main headquarters in Mirran”.

Mirran was one of the largest human cities around, and it had a thriving collection of temples and tributes to the known gods and goddesses.

“Or you could visit it yourself, naturally. Oh, and should you come across…the thing we seek, you could bring it there directly”.

 

[PhoenixMire]

“Hmm.” Frey slightly narrowed his eyes in thought. That was a much better option than accepting the glyph, which he was highly suspicious of. “Thank you for your information. I’ll be sure to bring the undead kid there if I find it.”

Mirran. That wouldn’t be very difficult to find his way to; he’d been there a few times before, after all. It was a big place. He nodded to the woman, smiling faintly. “Thank you. I’ll look for the kid and take it to Mirran, then.”

He still wasn’t sure who to believe. Patchwork, or the Temple of the Fallen? Both of them seemed equally as sketchy to him. He turned around and made his way back toward where the little girl was, casting a furtive glance over his shoulder to make sure he wasn’t being followed. How would he convince Patchwork to go to Mirran without raising her suspicions? And could he even trust the Temple of the Fallen to keep their word and pay for the girl? And even if they did, was selling her what he really wanted to do?

Frey was still very conflicted. He didn’t know what to make of this whole situation.

 

[StarryKnights]

Emmie blinked and lowered her hand.

“Alright then, we appreciate your help in the matter”, she bowed to the naimar before turning and heading her own way. Such a strange encounter…

Patches was still standing before the destroyed alter, her hand pressed against the mangled metal base of what was once a silver statue.

“Wrong…wrong wrong wrong”, she whispered over and over.

Her tiny body shivered in spurts.

This was wrong. This was wrong. This was wrong. There was something in this place, in the air, it sent a chill down her spine. It made her stomach twist as if it had a fork in it.

It made her very being itch. It was all wrong.

 

[PhoenixMire]

Frey returned to the building Patchwork had wandered into. He covered his nose and frowned, trying in vain to ignore the stench in the rotted structure.

“Hey, Patch. I think we should get out of here.”

He stood in the doorway, wondering what to do with her. She’d most likely be suspicious if he wanted to drag her along to Mirran. How could he get her there and make it seem natural?

And did he even want to hand her over to the Temple of the Fallen?

Frey sighed. For now, he’d focus on getting her there, and on the journey he could take time to decide. It would take a while to get there from here, after all. Maybe once they were out of this foul-smelling, mud-ridden marsh, he could pull out his map and see what the best route was from here to Mirran.

 

[StarryKnights]

Patches didn’t respond to Frey, though he was right. They probably should get out of there. Patches remained at the statue base for a moment, lost in her own mind.

She stayed there for a few more minutes before blinking.

She turned around slowly and looked at Frey.

“…This is wrong. Shouldn’t be broken…shouldn’t be…rotten”, she blinked slowly and looked back to the statue base.

“This was…important…but I, I don’t remember why”, there was a frown etched onto her face. She didn’t like this…she wanted to leave.

Tearing her hand away from the statue she walked over to the naimar.

“We…should go…”, she spoke softly.

 

[PhoenixMire]

Frey waited for a moment as the child muttered, and with a frown he leaned on the broken doorframe - only to quickly straighten up again because of how splintered and ugly the wood was. He watched her make her way over to him, and nodded once. "Good idea. I don't like this place; we should definitely get out of here as quick as we can."

He watched her idly for a moment, thinking over his options, then turned and left the ruined building.

So now he just needed to think of a way to take Patchwork to Mirran. He tried to consider what the best route there would be, and how to casually bring up Mirran in conversation without making the child suspicious. Although, he supposed his most pressing worry was where to sleep for the night. Sleeping anywhere in the marsh would mean a night full of cold mud and discomfort. But sleeping in any of the buildings would be equally as horrible... the stench would keep him up all night.

He heaved a long sigh and ran a hand through his hair. He almost entirely forgot about Mirran in his worry about where to rest for the night. It wouldn't be possible to get out of this marsh before all the daylight left; it was almost entirely gone anyway.

 

[StarryKnights]

Patches shuffled after Frey, not wanting to be in this horrid place anymore. It was ll wrong. The rot was unnatural, the entire place was tainted. She could feel it pressing down on her from all sides and it was enough to make her feel somewhat ill.

Frey didn’t seem to be bothered, maybe he didn’t sense it. The disgusting filth that lingered in the air, left behind by the horrid force that had done this.

Patches couldn’t tell whether it was magic, some sort of illness or even some kind of curse, but whatever it was it had shaken the undead child.

Once she caught up to the naimar she reached out and grabbed his free hand. They had lost most of the day, they were going to need to find a place to sleep.

Well, Frey would need to sleep, Patches would keep watch. She wanted to move as far away from this city as possible.

“…Where should we stop for the night… If we move quickly we can get a ways away from this place”.

 

[PhoenixMire]

Frey glanced down to the girl when she grasped his hand. He made no move to pull his hand away, but thought about how odd her skin felt - cold in a way he didn't know how to explain. Undead creatures were strange things. He wondered how dangerous she really was, and what might happen if he sold her to the Temple of the Fallen. Which one should he trust in this situation? Them, or her?

He sighed quietly and glanced down to his map. He'd figure this out later, during their journey.

"So since we've already stopped in this... delightful little town, we should be around here." He indicted the marsh village on his map. "If you don't know where to go next, then I suggest we head north." Mirran was to the north, but he hoped Patchwork wouldn't be suspicious of his choice of direction. He decided to explain his decision. Kind of. "There are larger towns to the north, with a lot more people and buildings and things to trade and more to do in general. There will be much nicer places to stay, and there will be a lot of good things for me to buy, plus we might find some information about you. What do you say? Should we head north?"

He didn't wait for her response to start traveling. He began backtracking, walking back the way they had come. They'd have to pass through the rolling hills again and then through that somewhat unpleasant town they'd slept in a bit ago. After that, if they kept heading north... unfortunately they'd have to pass over the mountains to reach Mirran, and who knew how long that would take? Still, Frey wanted to go.

 

[StarryKnights]

Patches looked up and over the map, there didn’t appear to be much around them. That was a good thing, hopefully no one else would stumble across that horrible state. She’d found the place she’d been looking for, yet there weren’t any answers there.

That was almost as alarming as the state the town had been in. Without her little driving instinct, Patches had no idea where she ought to go.

She just knew she wanted to get away from here.

“…Okay…we can go north…that means going back the way we came right?”.

Back through that town they’d stayed at and beyond… According to the map it looked like there were mountains to the north, Patches had never seen mountains before. She couldn’t escape the feeling that she ought to avoid that direction, but at the moment she just wanted to be away from here.

If they headed back to that town Fray could have a roof over his head, and that was better than nothing.

She followed the naimar, wondering where she ought to go next. Should she continue traveling with Frey, or would she be better off on her own?

She disliked the notion of being alone, and opted not to voice her concern on the matter.

“Are we going to sleep in that town like before?”.

 

[PhoenixMire]

Frey nodded. “Yes. We’ll just backtrack for now.” He made his way through the wetlands, trying his best to avoid the muddiest areas, but that was difficult. The entire place was full of mud. “I don’t know if we’ll stay in that town again... it was such a ripoff for an awful room.” But where else would they stay? He had no idea.

Night came fast. With an irritated groan, Frey gave in to the fact that he’d just have to sleep in this awful marsh. He tried to find the least muddy area possible, and actually managed to discover a somewhat nice little patch of grass, devoid of mud, underneath a tree. He set up his blankets and curled under them.

“Take watch while I sleep, Patch, if you don’t mind...” But Frey left her hardly any room to answer, as he rolled to his other side underneath his blankets and shut his eyes.

The songs of crickets rang through the air. Although they were a bit loud, and the air grew a little cold, Frey still found himself drifting off. Soon enough, he fell fast asleep.

 

[StarryKnights]

Backtracking to the previous town seemed to be the plan, though Frey didn’t seem overly excited for it. Patches was just happy to get far away from that cursed city. It didn’t seem like they would make it to town before night fell though.

Patches wondered how Frey intended to sleep on the muddy ground. As the light grew dim and the sun dipped low, Patches got her answer. Surprisingly, they were able to find a patch of grass under some trees where Frey could lay down.
The naimar seemed irritated, and Patches herself was still on edge from the rotted city. She couldn’t escape the eerie feeling that something dark had followed them from that place.

She sat down under the tree and leaned back against the trunk.

“I will keep watch”, she spoke softly, though Frey was already fast asleep. She sighed and looked out into the darkness, unable to shake the feeling that something was looking back.

 

[PhoenixMire]

When the sun rose, bringing the songs of birds with it, Frey groggily opened his eyes. The vaguely unpleasant, stale smell of the wetlands made him wrinkle his nose a bit. He rolled over, unwilling to get up just yet, but knowing that he should get moving. With a sigh, he managed to push himself up, gathering his blankets and packing them away.

He glanced to Patchwork. Again she hadn't done anything to him through the night. Was she really as bad as the Temple of the Fallen made her out to be? Surely if she wanted to harm him, she could have done it by now, right? Unless she wanted something else from him and was biding her time to attack...

Frey shook the thoughts away and sighed. "Well, let's get going. I'm sick of this marsh." He produced a few bits of jerky, cheese, and dried fruits from him satchel, eating them as he walked. In the far distance he could see the vague silhouette of mountains; that would be the direction they should both head in. Mirran was past those mountains. He didn't know exactly how long it would take to cross them and reach the city, though.

 

[StarryKnights]

As Frey stirred Patches slowly rose, her joints cracking and groaned loudly, after sitting still all night her limbs were stiff. None of these phased the young girl though, as she didn’t feel these grotesque sounding cracks. That was probably for the best as well, given a normal person would’ve likely been in serious pain.

She regarded the naimar with her usual distant stare.
“…I thought I sensed something last night, but determined it was an animal”. She felt sharing this information was important, after all a guard was meant to report on what transpired during their watch. Patches wasn’t sure where she’d learned this, but knew it was true.
As the pair walked she could see large shapes dotting the horizon.

“Those are…mountains correct. Will we have to cross them?”, she looked to frey curiously. “I have never been in a mountain…as far as I can recall anyway”.

 

[PhoenixMire]

So she’d sensed an animal presence. All right, at least it hadn’t been anything dangerous. He nodded once in reply to her observation and kept walking.

“Yes, those are mountains. They’re beautiful, but... they can be dangerous.” Frey lightly cracked his neck as he walked, feeling unpleasantly stiff. “As long as we stay on the trail we should be fine. Since winter’s technically over and it’s spring right now, there should only be snow in the tips of the mountains, so we don’t even need to worry about cold if we keep to the trail.”

He continued walking for a long while. Mud caked to his boots and his trousers, and he grew more and more irritated with the added weight. He just wanted to be out of this accursed marsh.

After a while, he could see the end of the wetlands in the distance, followed by the rolling, flower-dotted hills. That place looked like a paradise after all the oversized puddles, heavy mud, and soggy grass of the marsh. They were so close now...

 

[StarryKnights]

Beautiful, but dangerous. Keep to the trail to avoid the cold. Patches filed away this information for later, should something happen, and the pair become separated she would know what to do. Of course, she hoped to avoid such a thing, if they became separated who knew what could happen.

She’d reported the presence as an animal, but Patches couldn’t shake the feeling that it had been something more…

The trudged forward through the marsh, the mud caked onto her bare legs, the extra weight made Patches move slower and less steady. At times she sank into the mud and had to pause in order to dig herself out. She could feel the threads in her legs straining with the extra weight.

She would be... well not happy but she would be more content when they were freed of this muddy swamp area. It took some time, but within the day they reached the edge of the wetlands. The mud puddles began to transition into the rolling fields of flowers.

“This is…better”, she spoke softly as they moved out of the swamp. Now they were heading back the way they’d come, through the small town and then onwards toward the mountain.

But as they walked, Patches sensed that odd presence once again.

Was it the same animal as before…? She looked around, scanning the area looking for any signs of wildlife. Oddly enough, there wasn’t any around.

“…Odd…where are all the…animals?”, she looked to Fr

 

[PhoenixMire]

Frey kept on trudging until they'd finally escaped the awful marsh. He breathed an audible sigh of relief when mud and water changed to grassy hills. The grass was still a bit soggy for a while, but eventually that, too, faded away. He walked through long swaying grasses tickling at his legs and felt relieved to be out of the wetlands. He agreed with the girl that this was, indeed, much better.

"The animals?" Frey glanced around. He shrugged after a moment's pause. "It would be hard to spot any here. Animals tend to like keeping to themselves. They probably see us coming and try to hide."

Still, at Patchwork's question, he couldn't help feeling... off, somehow. Like something was wrong. He told himself to ignore the feeling; it only made sense that of course they weren't seeing anything because deer or rabbits or any other kind of creature would hide from them. But the rolling hills suddenly felt empty and lonely. He found himself unconsciously quickening his pace a bit.

Walking was exhausting. Although the hills were beautiful, and free of mud, Frey grew tired of cresting a hill, descending it, and repeating the process endless times. He didn't want to stop, though; he wanted to keep going and hopefully arrive at the town before nightfall, even if that would be impossible. They still had quite a ways to go and the sun was already sinking into the horizon.

 

[StarryKnights]

They were hiding, fleeing as the traveling pair got too close. This seemed logical, but Patches still felt like something was off.

Surely there would be signs of said animals fleeing into their borrows and up the sparse trees dotting the area. Something was off, she continued looking around, scanning the surroundings to locate the source of the issue.

She saw nothing obvious as they ascended and descend the numerous hills standing in their path. Patches does not feel exhaustion in the same way a living creature would, but even she was growing…weary of the constant climbing. And they were no closer to the city, the sun was beginning to go down and they still hadn’t arrived at the tiny town they’d stayed in before.

As Patches debated asking Frey if they ought to stop, an eerie howl echoed through the air.

The girl froze, from atop the hill she couldn’t see anything in the rapidly darkening fields surrounding them. But that had sounded like…wolves.

“Frey?”.

 

[PhoenixMire]

All Frey wanted was to reach the town. Though, he admitted to himself he had no idea what to do when he got there. Did he really want to pay to stay at that ramshackle inn again? Not really. He supposed it would be fine to sleep nestled amidst the hills at night, then pass through the town in the morning. They were at least close enough now that it might only take another hour of walking to reach the village. It would be a good idea to stop and sleep for the night then continue on tomorrow.

Frey decided it was almost time to stop, maybe after they descended another hill. The last thing he wanted to do was sleep atop a hill and in the open. So, in a few minutes, when he descended this particular hill, he'd stop and eat. He realized belatedly that his food supplies were running very low. He probably only had a couple pieces of jerky left. His stomach growled faintly, and he sighed. He'd need to buy plenty of provisions in the village tomorrow.

Just as he crested the hill and began to walk down its side, a howl pierced the air.

His heart skipped a beat. He didn't know what to do. Should he stop and look around for the source of the sound, or run? He felt so exposed on this open hilltop - so he decided to rush down, feeling only slightly more comfortable when he was hidden in the tiny valley between two hills. His mind raced. What in the world was that howl? Wolves didn't live in this area, it shouldn't have made sense for one to be here, let alone multiple... right?

He cast multiple frantic glances at his surroundings, but he could see nothing save the hills. They'd seemed so beautiful and welcoming when he'd exited that accursed swamp, but now the scenery felt somehow barren and eerie. Frey tensed a bit, ready to fight if need be. His physical strength usually served him well, and he still had his dagger in case he needed it. He hoped they'd be fine.

 

[StarryKnights]

Frey was quick to dart down the side of the hill, and Patches scrambled to follow him. Unfortunately, the naimar was much faster than her, especially with the mud caked on her legs.

She stumbled, floundered and tripped heading down, causing her to face plant straight into the grass. A normal person might’ve been in pain, but patches peeled herself up and started getting to her feet.

That was when she spotted the shadows, slinking through the grass, toward Frey.

Three in total, rapidly approaching from the left, right and front. Truly these beasts were pack hunters, they weren’t giving their prey much room to escape.

“Frey!”, she called out. “We’re surrounded!”, as the words escaped her lips, the creature toward the front lept up and out of the grass, snarling.

As far as wolves went, this was huge, it looked more like a small horse than it did a canine. Its long white fangs glistened in the dim lighting. Its gray fur was marred by bald, black patches, almost as if something had eaten through the fur and was now working on the skin.

The grass beneath its feet seemed to wither and die as it stood there, growling lowly at the duo. Two more wolves crept out of the grass, both smaller than the first, but sporting the black patches of what appeared to be rotting flesh.

 

[PhoenixMire]

He barely noticed Patchwork trip, because he was too focused on the darkness of the night around him. The sun had set so quickly. All he wished for was light to better see his foe. He glanced quickly to his left and right, then whirled around and looked behind him - nothing. That was, until three ugly silhouettes crept at him from three different sides.

Frey's throat went dry. What were they? As he got a closer look at the creatures, he shuddered involuntarily. They were clearly not wolves, at least not normal ones. He had no idea how to deal with them. The way the grass crumpled and died beneath their heavy paws made Frey reluctant to touch them. What kind of impact might they have on his skin?

Gritting his teeth, he took a step back, drawing his dagger out from inside his boot. He had to do something. He looked to the girl beside him, then back to the "wolves", if they could even be called that.

"Patch, I don't know exactly how strong your powers are, but we need them right now. I'll be here as backup. Do what you can to get rid of these ugly things, and I'll make sure they don't reach you." He watched with narrowed eyes as the creatures advanced.

 

[StarryKnights]

Patches didn’t know what had happened to these wolves, but they reeked of death. It was enough to send a shiver down the young girl’s spine. The lead wolf, the largest of the bunch, stepped forward, snarling. It’s eyes, she noticed, were a glazed over and a milky white color.
The other wolves featured the same milky colored eyes. These things were sick, sick with death.

Frey’s words snapped Patches out of her thoughts, now wasn’t the time to analyze these monsters, not when they were about to kill them both.
As Frey called Patches to dispatch these monsters, the largest of the three lunged for the naimar, jaws open wide, clawed paws outstretched.

“FREY!”, Patches cried out, eyes wide with terror. In response to her massive sense of terror, her powers responded. In the blink of an eye, a wall of the black webs from before shot up between Frey and the pouncing wolf, snagging the wolf in the wall the wolf let out a pained yelp as the threads dug into it’s flesh.

The other two, smaller wolves darted around their captured leader, one pounced at Frey while the other attempted to dart around and attack the undead kid.

 

[PhoenixMire]

These disgusting creatures looked as though they'd been dead for a little while now - and yet they were up and about, lively and nimble enough to attack. Of course they had to be undead. But how? And why were they here?

Frey bared his teeth as one of the creatures lunged for him. Patchwork's strange webs encased the creature, and the naimar sighed quietly, glad that she seemed to be on his side - at least for the moment.

But there was no time to relax. Another one of the foul beasts lunged at him, and Frey hurriedly sidestepped, eyes fixed on his foe as it turned around to snarl at him. He wrinkled his nose. These monsters smelled horrible, and he was too afraid to let them touch his skin. How was he supposed to fight them without coming in contact with them?

He glanced to his side and noticed the other beast running straight for Patchwork. He had to do something to stop it. But what? He cast a quick glance around, hoping for some kind of rock to throw, but the hilly fields surrounding him were devoid of any. He’d just have to use his knife.

Narrowing his eyes, he took the blade of the knife between his fingers, aiming it at the creature whose attention was fixed on Patchwork. He wasn’t too good at throwing knives and could only hope it would work. He took a single step closer - and flung the blade forward.

It lodged itself in the creature’s shoulder. The beast made some kind of displeased noise and turned its angry attention to Frey.