Rise Of The Forgotten: Paths Cross

CHAPTER ONE, A BURNING DAY

A bright, scorching sun hung over a figure who hacked away at the dirt around a garden. The figure grunts with each swing of the farming tool. The figure working stopped, wiped their brow, and walked over to the moss-covered stone wall on the garden's edge. As the figure took a seat, they sighed with relief and admired the job they had done in this area. Transformed from a mess of rocks and hard earth flattened from the heavy travel that once flooded through this part of the forest, the garden had come a long way. With parched lips, the man felt the rumble of hunger in his stomach. The smell of sweet bread had reached the man from the small house on the other side of the property, but the dry air and smell of dirt lingered on the man's nose and tongue. His brow was covered in sweat, trickling down onto his Amber-colored beard, and his long hair, previously tightly bound in a bun, was now tangled and messy. It hung on the verge of coming undone and rested on his shoulders. He looked over at the untouched plot and felt a sense of dread about having to do it all over again. But, the glee and enjoyment of something so simple, quickly overshadowed that feeling of dread simple, he grinned and walked toward the small house that was within view. He enjoyed these days of hard work and whistled a tune from his past. A few fond memories came flooding into his mind. It made his grin become a large full smile. His smile was halfway fully formed until he felt a striking feeling of danger; he turned to see three figures. A white blue-eyed male Leoniod holding a gilded glaive with his main breaded into golden rings. A dark-skinned male human fully armored with his hands glowing and arcane runes floating over them, and an extremely large male Elofolk holding a shield and Large mace that looked as if a giant tooth was welded to the handle, with his trunk bladed and his tusks covered in spiked rings. All were dressed in golden armor and wearing holy symbols around their necks. Behind them, a large armored being, with lit candles decorated on their shoulders and back, their face was concealed by a helmet ornate with a death mask of sorts, and a hood covered both the helmet and mask. The Colossal figure walked closer, holding an enormous book the size of a personnel chest. The Man knew they were not there to give any blessings or missionary reasons. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He glanced at the small house; and calculated the distance between them and the home. It clicked in his head, he wasn't going to make it in time and thought to himself, "I need to make enough noise to let her know danger is here". In a serious tone, the man yelled out "What is it that you want, why have you come here!?". None of them responded until the silence was broken by the large armored being, in a deep commanding tone he stated "We have come here to deal with a dark vile creature from the bowels of hell itself, an evil creature matching your description". The Leonoid gripped his glaive and squatted down into an attacking stance. The Leoniod placed the glaive in front of him with the back handle resting on his left hand that sat above his head. The Elofolk held his shield high between himself and the man; the human raised his arms and the runes began to spin around his hands, they began to glow brightly. The Man readied himself for the onslaught his foes eagerly wished to unleash upon him; he cried out one last time," Please don't do this, I have done nothing wrong nor do I intend to do-." Suddenly a blast of light shined behind them, even in the bright noon sun the light was able to be seen reaching all around them, stopped only a few feet past the man. The light faded as quickly as it burst, and the three front warriors seemed to be taken aback by no reaction from their target, they turned to the large armored being puzzled. He stated in his deep voice "This one appears to be far stronger than the last we have faced. Do not fear we have the holy light on our side and our faith in the holy gods." "He does not stand a chance against us". At that statement, the man threw a medium-sized blast of force energy striking the shield of the Elofolk and pushing it back. The Leoniod dashed toward the man and jumped in the air, striking down at him. The Man rolled to the left and caught his balance with his right leg. He dashed at the Leoniod and struck him with a right swing of his fist; the man connected with the Leoniod's cheek in a downward motion. The Man Followed up with a left knee to the chin, the Leoniod dodged and countered with an overhead swing of his glaive. The man took a slash across his chest, jumped back, and grabbed at his fresh cut seeing that the gash hadn't cut deep enough to hinder him. As his attention returned to the Leoniod, the Man was blasted from the left by a bolt of fire, the bolt burned his left arm. He grabbed his arm as he rolled to recover in a kneeling position; he stared at the dark-skinned human with the spinning runes who had cast the spell at him. He was preparing to do so again. But the Leoniod dashed at the Man, and swung in a cross-motion then turned in at the end to continue in the same motion but in reverse; the Man rolled on the ground; he jumped and barely dodged the attacks. Suddenly the ground began to shake, the Leonoid smirked at the man, then leaped into a backflip as the Elofolk charged at him. The man threw himself and dodged out of the way of the large mace, it struck where the man was, leaving a large indent to the ground. The Man attempted to catch his breath but was struck again by the Human's bolt of fire. This time, it hit him on his left side and reached down his left leg, the Man lay on the ground and gasped. He attempted to stand up but was knocked back down by a downward strike from the Leonoid cutting across his face. The gash stretched from his right temple to the left side of his chin. The Man was now covered in blood and the sting of burns ran through his body; the pain and mix of adrenaline caused his mind to be loud and full of both panic and sporadic thoughts. He stilled himself with a deep breath, grabbed a fist of dirt, and threw it into the Leonoid's eyes, blinding him, the Man with a powerful uppercut knocked the Leonoid into the air and onto his back. The glaive He was using fell from his hand, but before it could reach the ground the Man dashed and spun himself all in the same motion and caught it. The Man leapt into the air striking at the Elofolk. Taken back by this burst of energy and onslaught of attacks from someone who was just knocked to the ground gasping for air, bleeding out, and with burns on half his body. The Elofolk could only hold up his shield to block the onslaught. The human prepared a stronger spell as the Man continued to strike with unbelievable speed and power. The Man was able to knock the Elofolk's shield out of the way. Now in front view of each other, the Elofolk could see that the gash on his foe's face had healed and the burns were not far from being healed themselves. The look on the Man's face was emotionless and focused. In an overhead motion, the Man attempted to strike the Elofolk on his head but at the last moment the glaive was pulled from his hands, it spun and flew back to the Leonoid's side. With a grin on his face, the Leoniod pointed to behind the Man with his claw; as the Man turned he was overshadowed by the Elofolk head butting him in the face, breaking his nose. The Man, clutched his face with his left hand while throwing his right arm in the air and whispered, "Sorry for this," as a ring of fire and molting rock burst out from underneath the EloFolk in a roaring blaze. The Elofolk let out a loud yell of pain. The Leonoid rushed the Man, hitting him across the back. The Man fell to the ground, in the Man's heart he knew this was not a fight he was going to win. The blazing burst withered out and the Elofolk was now covered in burns and his armor had soot across it, he bashed the Man on his back with his shield knocking him to the ground; the Man let out a loud grunt. "BLASTED DEMON, DO YOU THINK YOUR POWER BE SO STRONG THAT YOU COULD DEFEAT THE HIGH ONE'S CHOSEN KNIGHTS!!" The Elofolk shouted out in anger. "Be calm sir Richard. Do not let this dark creature send you down the path of anger, its demonic power is nothing compared to those who hold faith in their lords." The armored being said as he walked over to the Man. Sir Richard replied, "Yes Grand Master Talon." Grand Master Talon reached down and grabbed the Man's face, lifting him, and leaned in. Talon looked into his eyes. For a moment the Man could see through the death mask and into his foe's own eyes. They held nothing behind them but rage and pride. In a cheerful voice, Talon rejoiced, "This is one of the Dark Lord's lieutenants, you all have done well with the defeat of this foul creature." He dropped the man to the ground, and turned to the dark-skinned human, "Now Sir Stonewall, will you please hold this evil demon, while I prepare the banishment." With a Bow the man with the runes rotating around his hands, dismissed them away and with a quick and readily reply, "Yes, Grandmaster Talon". With a twist of his hands, Stonewall tightly squeezed his fist, the Man gasped for air and reared back in pain. Unable to move, with his arms bound to his sides; struggled to tell them, "You are making a grave mistake, I am not a demon nor am I the Dark Lord's lieutenant. I am a retired soldier from the Western wars, do not let him do this." Talon in his commanding voice, "Do not listen to the lies of this evil thing," he turns to the Leonoid," Sir Abdalla will you please shut this creature's mouth". "It would be an Honor Grandmaster." Abdalla stated as he firmly grabbed the Man's mouth, his claws dug into the sides of the Man's face. The Man struggled but to no avail, his efforts were for not. Talon flipped through his large book and stopped on a page, Stonewall attempted to look to see the page but could not due to Talon spinning around in a somewhat gleeful manner. Grandmaster Talon raised his hand and announced, "There the spell is finished, now step back". He placed his large metal hand across the Man's face, calling out," OH HE WHO IS MOST HIGH, OUR FATHER AND CREATOR. BANISH THIS DARK DEVIL BACK TO DEPTHS OF HELL HE WAS BORN, FROM WHOM OF THE VEIL PITS OF THE ACCURSED MONSTERS THE DWELL IN THE THE DARK LORDS DOMAIN WHERE HIS WHORES AND SLUTS BREED UNCONTROLLABLY, AND BLESS US FOR WE ARE MORTALS DOING THE WORK YOU HAVE PLACED BEFORE US. AND WE THANK YOU FOR YOUR LOVE AND BLESSINGS TO COME." With a bright flash of light, the man was gone, leaving behind only the laid grass he was on. The four holy men remained silent and prayed, but were interrupted by a small rock being thrown at them from the small farmhouse. They turned to see a small boy and girl yelling at them. "You monsters, he wasn't a demon, '' yelled the girl. "How dare you come to my farm and gang up on him like you did? '' shouted the boy. A woman ran out of the house grabbed the children's mouths and held them tightly to her chest, she whispered to them "Hush now you don't know who you speak to!" Another older woman rushed out and fell to her knees and threw her hands up. The four knights made their way to them. "Please, I am sorry we do not mean any offense. Please any punishment that is due I will take but please do not hurt my children '', cried their mother, Grandmaster Talon reached down and grabbed the mother, "Hmm, yes she is human. And not a demon" He stated in a deep tone. He let her go, and with a gasp of relief, she began to cry out, " Thank you my lord thank you, may the gods bless the holy- '' Before she could finish her praise; Grandmaster Talon turned to the children and stared. "But it appears that the demon has laid with this woman and created half-bred spawns of evil. See how they roar and attack those who would do the Most High's holy work. For this, they must be killed along with their mother and anyone else who would be in the company of a devil." The mother and woman both let out screams of anguish and horror. Sir Abdalla and Sir Richard both grabbed and dragged them to the small house. Stonewall approached Grandmaster Talon and asked, "Grandmaster, they are not Hafded nor do they appear to be any more than rowdy children and if that man was a demon then my fire would not have harmed him. Grandmaster I-", he was interrupted by the grandmaster," Do you question the holy work of He who is most high?". With a stern demeanor, Stonewall replied," No Grandmaster, I do not question his work only to better-" Interrupting him again Talon demanded, "Then do what he has laid before you and NOT QUESTION HIM AGAIN!" Talon collected himself, "Ahm, I do not speak out of anger, only concern for your faith's foundation. Be sure to repent for your questions '. Grandmaster Talon walked to the small home humming the same tune as the man did, he raised his hand and placed it on the blockaid Abdalla and Richard had placed along the small home; and ignited his hand, lighting the home into a roaring blaze. He turned and led the three holy warriors to the road and began to walk. The flames reached high, the smoke filled the once-clear sky, and the screams and cries of those locked in the once happy and quiet home rang out into the air.