Hero

4. Origins.

     Night was falling upon the forest. The night itself was cold and the wind was colder. Five pairs of feet finally came to a stop in a clearing while their owners panted trying to catch their breath. They were miles away from the city. Tal was the first to speak through a series of pants and gasps.
     "Perhaps here would be a suitable enough spot to bunk down for the night." Her voice was raspy and she coughed her way through her statement. The party gave a mixture of nods and gestures of agreement. The half elf reached into her pocket and produced a small leather pouch.  "I'll make camp!" Tal said excitedly.
     "Right. Tal, I hate to be the bad guy but that's hardly the size of a tent. How are you going to set up camp...?" Veil asked.
     "With this!" Tal said as she produced from the pouch a small book. The party stared at her with some jaws dropped, others with a confused look upon their face.
"H'and what do ya intend ta do with that?" Obik asked.
"sinome, y' tent, sinome y' naur, y' campsite sii', amin irma.
fetch lye alu, shelter safety ar' food. prepare lye meals, spark i' runya ar' karna y' me'a indo." The half-elf droned on. As her speech continued, strange translucent beings came into being and started. Carrying logs, stones, berries and many other objects to the newly forming campsite. The rest of the party stood on in disbelief watching the magic form before them.

"Nothin a ritual or two can't fix!" Tal said. In a few short minutes, the group was sitting around a fire, cooking their meal, celebrating their escape with quiet cheers.

"I guess we should introduce ourselves. My name is Obik, general of the army. I guess I shouldn't use that title anymore... I was simply 'ere to watch, but I was captured and put into the arena and branded h'as a run-away. I was born and raised in the breeding camps but the commander of the army decided I was strong enough to rise through the ranks 'til 'e no longer needed me I suppose." Obik said. His head hanging throughout his speech. He clearly showed remorse and confusion. He never did find out why he was meant to be in the arena. He felt lost and would have felt alone were it not for Ekim and Veil, easily his closest friends throughout his entire life.
     "Well my name is Ekim. I was also born and raised in the breeding camps. But I was promoted to lead the Calvary men because of these..." Ekim said cutting two slits into his robes allowing his wings to expand. The group gasped slightly as the torn and scarred wings stretched to their full extension. "They never were functional for flying but I am almost healed. I was branded with the runaway mark when my family was killed. I never got the chance for revenge." He finished.

"Im sorry about all that." Tal said. She reached into the pouch. And pulled from it, a lute.
"Is that a bag of holding?" Dez asked eyes wide.
" Yes I received it and everything inside it from my former teacher Lyra. She left it to me when the army raided our home... She was like a mother to me. I had nothing. She gave me everything and taught me everything." Tal began tuning her lute. Veil and Dez started twitching at the sound but grew accustomed to the noise and shrugged it off. Tal began to sing. Her voice was sweet and melodious. The party listened in as the bard performed her song.

"Never had the world been kind to me,
But to you, fair maiden, all the worlds kindness I see.
Love never had a glance toward me,
But love never had a quarrel with thee.
Wealth has never taken a fancy to me,
Yet wealth kisses your hand tenderly.
But freedom be the worst to me
For freedom gave you my shackles key"

Veil and Dez began twitching again as Tal's voice rang through the night. The intensity became too much for Veil. He silently stood and the group became silent. He walked over to Tal, grabbed the lute, and inspected it carefully.
"Your master gave you this?" He said softly.
"Yes... Why?" Tal replied, a worried look growing on her face. Veil looked from Tal back to the lute.
"Clever indeed." He said. Veil closed his eyes and surged magic into the lute. It glowed white. Soon the light was too bright and blinded the group. When sight was regained, the group looked back at veil who was now holding a longsword. "Your master had a sense of humor. Now that you have a weapon such as this, I'll teach you how to use it. Hold out your hand." He said. Tal did as told and Veil changed the sword back into a lute and gave it to her. "Close your eyes and try to push all your magic into this hand. Focus on the sword form and command it to change." Veil instructed. The group stared in wonder as the bard closed her eyes and focused hard. The lute began to glow and soon a smile crossed Veil's face. The lute finally changed its shape back into the sword. She admired the blade and made it change back into the lute.

"This... Is... Wonderful... Thanks..." Tal panted.

"It's taxing on the body, And since you are very clearly a vocal magic user, I imagine it will take you a while to get used to it. I'd cherish that blade if I were you." Veil said. "I guess I should get to my introduction now. My name i–"

"We know who you are." Dez said annoyed. "Veil Kyre. Adopted son of Tress the swordmage of legend. Supposedly you and him got into a duel that lasted a week. You're supposed to be one of the best with a longsword. You rose through the ranks of the army quickly but when your group got charged to slaughter an entire village you decided to go alone and not a single person in the village got away. Every man woman and child died there. You left and were eventually captured and branded with the traitor and runaway marks." She said.

"That's not true. The group was sent to kill them and THEY did. When I found out, I killed the squadron and ran away. Obik here eventually caught me and brought me in. What about you Dez?" Veil said.

"I hate you so much... Since he won't stop you all may as well just call me Dez, I was a leatherworker when the army started its raid on my town. My gnome friends told me to get away but instead I made a deal with some magical being... I never found out who. He gave me my warlock abilities and I fought back as hard as I could but my friends and family were killed. I was branded as a runaway and you all know the rest." Dez said. The group shifted around uncomfortably in silence for a few solid minutes until finally Ekim broke the silence.

"Well. The army is still a problem and they still want us dead. They will be around soon to try and catch or kill us. The way I see it, we all have two options. Fight it together or run away from each other and hope we don't get caught. If you want to take part in a revolution that may fail anyway against the army, then we will pick this up in the morning. But, if you aren't here in the morning, nobody will blame you." Well, please don't kill me in my sleep..." He trailed off as he went toward his tent. Obik stood and looked to the rest of the group. He went and patted Veil on the shoulder as he went into his tent. Tal put away her lute and nodded to the tiefling and human still sitting at the fire. Dez sighed, stood, and went to a tent. Veil stomped out the fire as he took one last look to the sky and went into his own tent. The entire party laid awake in silence for as much as an hour before sleep finally overcame the last of them as the cold night breeze blew through the woods.