Acheval
05-05-2006, 03:07 PM
By Ben Holden
Is this my fate? To die alone atop a cold mountain? As I ask myself what I€ve done to deserve this, a hidden memory, buried so deep I wonder if it even happened, begins to worm its way out from the depths of my mind. The memory of where it all began.
It was in her arms, the arms of the only person that ever loved me. Her name was Sarsha, a Dragon Knight, and my foster mother. My real mother was killed when I was an infant €" brutally murdered like the rest of my village by those accursed Demons. Sarsha was kind me to in my years at the Stronghold, but I knew she harbored a great sadness within her. When I grew into adolescence I learned the reason for her sorrow. Her son, Veldor, was a promising Dragon Knight, and together with his steed Licentia, they won many battles. He was madly in love with a beautiful woman from another Stronghold; however, just before they were to be married, a surprise Demon attack took her life. Soon after Veldor lost the will to live and killed himself. Licentia and Sarsha wept together for him, but the anguish grew too strong for Licentia, and she left the Stronghold never to be seen again. To show me the love that she did after so terrible a tragedy gave me hope, but that hope was not to last.
Being an outsider, I was rarely accepted by the Dragon Knights. Not only that, but I wasn€t of noble birth, so I could never become one of them. A few of the younger Knights didn€t like me because I was different, and they would berate me whenever they could. Their favorite insult was to call me €˜Joshua the apostate€ who was supposed to be a Dragon Knight who betrayed the location of the Strongholds to the Demons around two and a half centuries ago. After the insults came the beatings. I tried being nice to them and making friends, but they wouldn€t let me, so I continued to practice my archery with a desperate zeal, for it was the only way I knew to hide from the pain. By the time I was seventeen, I could best anyone in the entire Stronghold with the bow. This only angered the bullies more, and they thrashed me harder. Eventually I could take it no longer. I was nineteen when it happened.
As I received my ritual beating after archery class, a deep and violent rage began to well up inside me until I became a puppet to my own anger. As if possessed, I pulled an arrow from my quill and thrust it into the neck of my nearest tormentor. He died almost instantly. That boy€s parents came to the cell in which I wept that night, with hatred in their eyes and I could see they sought revenge. What they said to me next struck the very core of my heart, and sent waves of agony cascading throughout my entire soul. They told me of a Demon prophecy - that one day a boy void of noble blood would grow up to become a Dragon Knight and destroy the Demon sovereign. I do not know why, but Mal-Beleth believed that boy to be me. I was the reason my family and townspeople were murdered. Despite my overwhelming sorrow, I couldn€t understand why they would not permit me to become a Dragon Knight. When I asked they just spat in my face and said it was a Demon prophecy, and to believe it would be an insult to the Seventh Dragon.
The following day I was told I would be executed. The boy€s parents must have been influential to get such a callous verdict, but for being the cause of my slaughtered parents, I deserved nothing less. Sarsha tried to reason with the Elders, begging them only to exile me, but their minds were set in stone, justified by their belief that Sar-Badon wouldn€t have wanted the safety of his people jeopardized by a vengeful outcast who might reveal their location to the Demons. That same night I was awoken to a kind and familiar face. It was Sarsha €" come to bear me away from death. Creeping from my cell, we fled the Stronghold on her Dragon, speeding over the Barrier islands where fires blazed in the Orcish cities far below.
Eventually the sun rose to bathe the world in a celestial light, and I hoped that my sins would be cleansed with the dawning of a new day - the start of a new life perhaps. Sarsha set me down in the foothills of a mountain close to the City of Talonguard, bid me the warmest of goodbyes, and took off to face her fate. I prayed to this day that the Elders showed mercy on her. Burying my guilt, I set out to the Capital where the city folk were in celebration of Emperor Nicolai€s 20th birthday, and whispered rumors of his infatuation for a woman named Isabel filled the streets. With no other way to make a living, I joined the Haven€s armed forces and was welcomed into their archer€s tower with open arms. Things were good for a time and I soon became renowned for my skill with the longbow. Surrounded by warm fires, and the light banter of my comrades, I slowly forgot my shame.
Then one fateful night, an angel came to me in my dream with a message from the highest realm. Elrick, look to the heavens. Be guided by them and thou shalt find the steed thou were destined to ride. I woke immediately and gazed out at the velvet black sky, dotted with silvery stars. Then I saw it. I saw it as I had never seen it before. The moon, now emanating an omniscient awareness, seemed almost to beckon me. I knew what I had to do. After hastily packing a few belongings, I was on my way, striding determinedly toward my lunar lodestar. Eventually I came to a great forest that seemed to stretch endlessly. I had heard rumor that the Elven Kingdom of Irollan lay hidden within. Venturing into its depths with only the kind light of the moon to aid me, I went on with a steely resolve to meet my destiny. After a fortnight of hard travel, I was led to a mountain so huge, its peak jutted up through the clouds, and I knew I was close to finding the Dragon I was destined to ride. I could feel it. Clawing my way up with frozen fingers, I ascended until the air began to thin as I passed through the cloud. It was there, above the luminescent sea of clouds, where I saw what I had come so far to find. The unmistakable cave of a Dragon - its entrance glowing faintly in the light of the moon.
The moment I entered its cave, the Dragon spoke to me through my mind, asking one simple question: Why have you come? So I told her of my upbringing, the Demon prophecy, and my angelic visitation. €œI was meant to find you. We were meant to be united. It is our destiny. Will you join with me, o€ Dragon?€ The question hung in the air, like a tidal wave poised to come crashing down, then she answered. I cannot. Down came the tidal wave. My past is wrought with pain and I have lost all belief in Sar-Elam, in prophecies, and most of all, in myself. Go now, and leave me to my grief. Numb with shock, I left the cave and climbed to the summit. Thus I came to stand where I stand now. I look up at the moon €" once my faithful companion, now a mocking light in the sky. Has it all been some twisted charade played by the Gods? Do the Gods even exist? Was it all in my head? I peer over the edge of the precipice to the sheer drop below. Rays of moonlight seem to point to the sharp rocks thrusting up though the clouds. Now I realize what I must do, what the moon was leading me to all this time. I must pay for my sins €" for the murder of a boy, for the destruction of a town, for the deaths of my family. Yes, it€s so clear now. I€m sorry, Sar-Elam . . . please forgive me.
As Elrick falls serenely towards his end, he notices something moving on the very edge of his vision, its moving fast, like a bolt of lightning. Then quite suddenly, it hits him. €œAm I dead?€
No young one, you are not.
€œYou! I thought that-€
I changed my mind. Dragons tend to do that. What is your name?
€œElrick€
Greetings Elrick. I am Licentia.
That night an age old prophecy had come to life as the fated pair €" Dragon and Rider €" embarked upon a journey of friendship and peril. People would one day rejoice at the symbol of hope €" a Dragon Knight atop his steed, silhouetted by a full moon.
Is this my fate? To die alone atop a cold mountain? As I ask myself what I€ve done to deserve this, a hidden memory, buried so deep I wonder if it even happened, begins to worm its way out from the depths of my mind. The memory of where it all began.
It was in her arms, the arms of the only person that ever loved me. Her name was Sarsha, a Dragon Knight, and my foster mother. My real mother was killed when I was an infant €" brutally murdered like the rest of my village by those accursed Demons. Sarsha was kind me to in my years at the Stronghold, but I knew she harbored a great sadness within her. When I grew into adolescence I learned the reason for her sorrow. Her son, Veldor, was a promising Dragon Knight, and together with his steed Licentia, they won many battles. He was madly in love with a beautiful woman from another Stronghold; however, just before they were to be married, a surprise Demon attack took her life. Soon after Veldor lost the will to live and killed himself. Licentia and Sarsha wept together for him, but the anguish grew too strong for Licentia, and she left the Stronghold never to be seen again. To show me the love that she did after so terrible a tragedy gave me hope, but that hope was not to last.
Being an outsider, I was rarely accepted by the Dragon Knights. Not only that, but I wasn€t of noble birth, so I could never become one of them. A few of the younger Knights didn€t like me because I was different, and they would berate me whenever they could. Their favorite insult was to call me €˜Joshua the apostate€ who was supposed to be a Dragon Knight who betrayed the location of the Strongholds to the Demons around two and a half centuries ago. After the insults came the beatings. I tried being nice to them and making friends, but they wouldn€t let me, so I continued to practice my archery with a desperate zeal, for it was the only way I knew to hide from the pain. By the time I was seventeen, I could best anyone in the entire Stronghold with the bow. This only angered the bullies more, and they thrashed me harder. Eventually I could take it no longer. I was nineteen when it happened.
As I received my ritual beating after archery class, a deep and violent rage began to well up inside me until I became a puppet to my own anger. As if possessed, I pulled an arrow from my quill and thrust it into the neck of my nearest tormentor. He died almost instantly. That boy€s parents came to the cell in which I wept that night, with hatred in their eyes and I could see they sought revenge. What they said to me next struck the very core of my heart, and sent waves of agony cascading throughout my entire soul. They told me of a Demon prophecy - that one day a boy void of noble blood would grow up to become a Dragon Knight and destroy the Demon sovereign. I do not know why, but Mal-Beleth believed that boy to be me. I was the reason my family and townspeople were murdered. Despite my overwhelming sorrow, I couldn€t understand why they would not permit me to become a Dragon Knight. When I asked they just spat in my face and said it was a Demon prophecy, and to believe it would be an insult to the Seventh Dragon.
The following day I was told I would be executed. The boy€s parents must have been influential to get such a callous verdict, but for being the cause of my slaughtered parents, I deserved nothing less. Sarsha tried to reason with the Elders, begging them only to exile me, but their minds were set in stone, justified by their belief that Sar-Badon wouldn€t have wanted the safety of his people jeopardized by a vengeful outcast who might reveal their location to the Demons. That same night I was awoken to a kind and familiar face. It was Sarsha €" come to bear me away from death. Creeping from my cell, we fled the Stronghold on her Dragon, speeding over the Barrier islands where fires blazed in the Orcish cities far below.
Eventually the sun rose to bathe the world in a celestial light, and I hoped that my sins would be cleansed with the dawning of a new day - the start of a new life perhaps. Sarsha set me down in the foothills of a mountain close to the City of Talonguard, bid me the warmest of goodbyes, and took off to face her fate. I prayed to this day that the Elders showed mercy on her. Burying my guilt, I set out to the Capital where the city folk were in celebration of Emperor Nicolai€s 20th birthday, and whispered rumors of his infatuation for a woman named Isabel filled the streets. With no other way to make a living, I joined the Haven€s armed forces and was welcomed into their archer€s tower with open arms. Things were good for a time and I soon became renowned for my skill with the longbow. Surrounded by warm fires, and the light banter of my comrades, I slowly forgot my shame.
Then one fateful night, an angel came to me in my dream with a message from the highest realm. Elrick, look to the heavens. Be guided by them and thou shalt find the steed thou were destined to ride. I woke immediately and gazed out at the velvet black sky, dotted with silvery stars. Then I saw it. I saw it as I had never seen it before. The moon, now emanating an omniscient awareness, seemed almost to beckon me. I knew what I had to do. After hastily packing a few belongings, I was on my way, striding determinedly toward my lunar lodestar. Eventually I came to a great forest that seemed to stretch endlessly. I had heard rumor that the Elven Kingdom of Irollan lay hidden within. Venturing into its depths with only the kind light of the moon to aid me, I went on with a steely resolve to meet my destiny. After a fortnight of hard travel, I was led to a mountain so huge, its peak jutted up through the clouds, and I knew I was close to finding the Dragon I was destined to ride. I could feel it. Clawing my way up with frozen fingers, I ascended until the air began to thin as I passed through the cloud. It was there, above the luminescent sea of clouds, where I saw what I had come so far to find. The unmistakable cave of a Dragon - its entrance glowing faintly in the light of the moon.
The moment I entered its cave, the Dragon spoke to me through my mind, asking one simple question: Why have you come? So I told her of my upbringing, the Demon prophecy, and my angelic visitation. €œI was meant to find you. We were meant to be united. It is our destiny. Will you join with me, o€ Dragon?€ The question hung in the air, like a tidal wave poised to come crashing down, then she answered. I cannot. Down came the tidal wave. My past is wrought with pain and I have lost all belief in Sar-Elam, in prophecies, and most of all, in myself. Go now, and leave me to my grief. Numb with shock, I left the cave and climbed to the summit. Thus I came to stand where I stand now. I look up at the moon €" once my faithful companion, now a mocking light in the sky. Has it all been some twisted charade played by the Gods? Do the Gods even exist? Was it all in my head? I peer over the edge of the precipice to the sheer drop below. Rays of moonlight seem to point to the sharp rocks thrusting up though the clouds. Now I realize what I must do, what the moon was leading me to all this time. I must pay for my sins €" for the murder of a boy, for the destruction of a town, for the deaths of my family. Yes, it€s so clear now. I€m sorry, Sar-Elam . . . please forgive me.
As Elrick falls serenely towards his end, he notices something moving on the very edge of his vision, its moving fast, like a bolt of lightning. Then quite suddenly, it hits him. €œAm I dead?€
No young one, you are not.
€œYou! I thought that-€
I changed my mind. Dragons tend to do that. What is your name?
€œElrick€
Greetings Elrick. I am Licentia.
That night an age old prophecy had come to life as the fated pair €" Dragon and Rider €" embarked upon a journey of friendship and peril. People would one day rejoice at the symbol of hope €" a Dragon Knight atop his steed, silhouetted by a full moon.