Strion: War of the Realms

Chapter 3: A New Beginning

Running, running the darkness quickly catching up to me. I tried running faster, FASTER but it quickly caught up to me.

I scream, jolting quickly upwards to check my surroundings. "Oh good I'm alone." I say with relief. I live alone in the forest surrounding the Elven capital Espinar. I live in a small house with 4 main rooms. I have a bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, and the living quarters. The hut was carved into a tree by one of my dire owl friends. Nearly everything in the house is made out wood floors, ceiling, walls, and most other things.

I decide to make breakfast. I walk outside to see how some of the animals of the forest are doing and also to get some eggs.

"Hello Zeno," I say to the horse standing in front of me "It's been 12 years huh?". He replies by whinnying. He is a black stallion who I have grown up alongside of. He is very well kempt and groomed. He has a long snout and amazing brown eyes, the steel horseshoes that he wears are glistening in the sun of dawn. I go and get him more water from the well as well as giving him some more hay and other greens from the garden. I go over to the pen where I keep chickens. They are all clucking around minding their own business. I throw in some seed and they go wild trying to get it. I go over to their coop which is very run down.

"I should paint that soon. UGH but then I would have to go into town." I sigh and decide to do it tomorrow. I grab three eggs and quickly close the gate behind me as to not let the chickens escape, they are very adventurous. I walk inside over to a kitchen and start to cook the eggs. I begin to wait for them to finish cooking. I think about the dream from last night.

"What was I running from?" I question myself. Shortly after, Asher wakes up. Asher is a baby dragon who has basically become my pet. He has dark blue wigs with red scales, a pointed head and a black arrowhead at the tip of his tail. He is 3 which is extremely young for a dragon. The eggs finally finish and I decide to give him one. We almost instantly finish them.

I reluctantly decide to go into town to look for new paint for the coop and also to sell some of my crops. I put my armour on, grab my sword, and saddle up Zeno. I grab the armour because the forest is known for its bandits and thieves. I wear chainmail armour, no helm, and worn leather boots. The sword I grabbed was one I crafted myself. it is a large black cleaver that weighs in at about 50 kilograms and is the length of my body. The blade still shines with the fire that forged it. The hilt of the sword has a large demon tooth that gives the weapon more power then it would have on its own. I quickly throw a long, hooded, black cloak on over my armour but under my sword then I get on Zeno and we start to march toward the city of Espinar.

It's a dirt road mostly made by me and maybe two others. I have to ride about 5 kilometers to reach the outer wall but I will have to march to the city center if I want the best items. On the way I come across a Dwarf and a Anthropomorphic Canine arguing.

The Dwarf has long red hair and a long braided beard. He is short (as a dwarf normally is) but isn't too round. He wears plate armour and has a large, black battle axe. He also wears a cloak with golden edges. The axe has a beautifully crafted hilt that was entwined with leather. The axe heads have an amazing crest in the center. FInally the end of the hilt was a large crystal. He also holds a large flask of dwarven stout.

The canine creature had tannish brown fur. He is about 2 meters tall and extremely skinny. He wore chainmail armour, a grey cloak, no shoes, cloth trousers, and had a long sword strapped to his back. This long sword was made a an amazing white alloy that is extremely light. It is the length of his body. The handguard is very basic, the hilt is beautifully made of gold and the end of the hilt has a glowing ball of light energy.

"Where are you two headed?" I ask them

"We're headed to the city of Espinar... Elf."

"Listen Dwarf I'm not fully elf, I'm half and I can help you two find Espinar. In fact I'm going there myself."

"YAY WE CAN MOVE ON," said the strange Canine creature. He speaks in a very loud and happy voice. "HI MY NAME IS KENSHI!"

"Hi Kenshi I'm Zinio and this is Zeno." I say happily and motion to Zeno the Horse.

"Oi Kenshi, Shut the 'Ell up you twat." said the Dwarf very rudely.

"No." He responded, starting to act like a 5 year old. Kenshi mounts up on his white horse. It has a long, golden mane and tail. The Dwarf mounts an small black pony and we begin our march to Espinar.

"What's his problem?" I whisper angrily to Kenshi.

"Oh Dante, he's just a jerk." He responds almost silently. "SQUIRREL!?"

On the horizon the beautiful city of Espinar gleams. The walls embroidered with gold and other beautiful materials. The amazing architecture of the Elves is quite the spectacle to behold. We marched up to the gate where a highly decorated elven guard walked up to us.

"What do you three need within the city?" He questioned Dante.

I responded by saying "I was just coming here to buy some items. I met these two along the wa..."

Dante cuts me off by saying "We are 'ere to speak to your king."

The guard says "Why must a Dwarf and a cursed creature speak to our king?"

"We want to make a treaty with your kind. I am having some trouble with being kind to your people. Our council sent us here so our clan can have peace with yours."

"What clan do you belong to?"

"The Dark-Flame clan." He responds almost as quickly as the question was asked. The guard almost fell back in shock of what he responded.

'The Dark-Flame clan,' I thought 'Why would one of them come out here?'

The Dark-Flame clan is well known for its use of dark magic on the surrounding areas. That would explain Kenshi. Legend has it that they get their powers from evil things locked away deep under the ground.

Each race has 4 well known clans. The dwarves have the Dark-Flame, Light's Hammer, Piercing Drill, and the Magic Axe. Not all clans get along. Games are a common way to settle disputes in this world. The game common of these clans are to go and mine for precious jewels. The first to find a jewel wins.

The Elves have the Wood elves, mana elves, mori (Dark) elves, and the Taur'ohtar (ranger) elves. Archery and mortal combat are the main competitions of these clans.

All the other races that are known have their own major clans, besides the undead. The undead are special they don't have 4 clans they have one clan, known as The Risen. The Risen are lead by a demon queen. Her name is Kel'Thanas. She is a banshee once an elf but killed by the blade of the Dark One. When she rose the elves no longer wanted her as their general. So she was exiled from the Taur'ohtar elves land.

I am with the wood elves as my father before me was.

"You and your clan are not welcome here, dwarf." The guard responded.

"But we need your clans 'elp."

The guard looked seriously at Dante before bashing him on the head with his bow. Dante began to fight back but lost miserably.

"Listen the ranger general, our leader specifically told us to stop your... kind."

"Listen, Elf I don't like doing this but my leader requested an audience with yours to discuss peace."

"Yeha right, take them away." He motioned to the other guards from the gate to come over and take us away.

"Wait why me?" I asked.

"Because your are an assistant in their plan."

"What plan?" I asked.

"To overthrow the throne."

Those were the last words I heard before Dante, Kenshi, and I were dragged through the front gate to the jail.