Dypes The Soul Keeper. (2)

Prologue

The ceremony was short and sweet. All who attended paid respect to the fallen in their own way. The children cried, the women mourned and the men stood in respect. The weather was clear and calm, unusual for the north some saw it as a sign of respect from the gods.

At the head of the ceremony stood an old short woman held up by a short walking stick. Her face brittle and bruised her bones ached but she would not allow a single soul to know the pain she was in. The grave they all covered around was a mass one. Many bodies pilled in. The village lost over eighty of its people. A great hit to the small population numbers like these hadn’t been lost since the old ages when the village grip spanned across the entire county. Now just more than a hundred are left.

Behind the old lady stood a young woman, her hair blonde and long as well as unkempt. Samth was her name she was still lost to grief. Her usual big blue eyes dim and swelled by great bags under her eyes. Her usual peachy skin white and ill looking. She wore a large black garment given to her by Fure for this occasion. It went from her slim neck all the way down covering her feet in the deep white snow. She would cry if she could but her tears all spent she just stood watching the grave a few feet in front of her with an intense madness.

Standing behind Samth stood a tall brooding figure. His hair short and brown same as his eyes. He wore a leather skin outfit much like the rest of the village people. However as an extra he had a large piece of brown clothe over his neck and down his right arm hiding it from view. He just stood looking at the back of Samth’s blonde head; he wondered what she was thinking about and how she was coping with the entire ordeal. Dypes wondered what his brother saw in this mysterious woman.

“We are here today to pay respect to our fallen. They gave their lives for our people, village and of course our lord. Each name shall be engraved in the great stone and remembered forever as the bravest of our people.” Fure’s old voice boomed in the clear outside, all the people attending stood silent in respect as her words entered their hearts. Turning to face her people Fure continued to speak loud and clear. “We have fallen on hard times. We will need to band together in these hard times that will come. We have lost our leader and now wonder aimlessly, before anything else happens we must elect a new leader to lead us once more.” Samth stood in bitter silence her small hands clenched in rage that his name wasn’t even spoken. “As you all know the one who defeated our previous lord becomes the new one but in this intense that was not the case an outsider defeated our lord. This has never happened in our entire clan’s history. What do we do? Our customs demand a leader.”

Rages build to breaking point in Samth and she burst out. “Fools your customs are what killed him!  If you had abandoned them years ago he may still be alive and your village may be in better shape!”

Before people in the village could burst out abuse and threaten Samth for mocking their ways, Dypes looked back and gave an intense stare to each of them a warning from him to them. Lay a hand of her and they would have to deal with Dypes.

Fure looked at the young girl brimming with rage and fear. “Girl. You are right.” Uproar came from all the people of the village. “Silence!” her angry voice boomed and became law silence suddenly came into effect. Samth stood shocked Fure agreed with her. “Our people’s ways have blinded us from the outside world and what it holds. We have hidden away in this north for far too long and it has closed our hearts to the outside world. Seeing you and the boy again reminded me of what I had lost. I forgot how magical the world is.”  A smile spread across Fure’s old beaten face. “I have decided we the people of Asura will re-enter the world, we shall do what we do best and from what I hear a war is going on right now between mage and knights.” Samth could not believe what she was hearing this stubborn old woman was throwing her customs away to experience the world once more. “We of the Asura don’t like to join the strongest team that would be far too boring. Here this my people them who want to stay and carry on our ways may but the people who want to re-enter the world and make the Asura name tremble in their hearts again will follow me to Gord. City of mage so we may join them and kick some white knight ass!” Cheers broke out across the village Asura blood began to boil that day. A great darkness would spread again or would this be a great light? 

“Before we go!” Fure added as she boomed. “We must pay respects to Espex Demon Walker a man of such skill he held the highest bounty in Skov. A man so powerful he could turn into a demon. So intelligent he got out of any situation with his brain and a lord so lucky that he had the chance to meet a truly ways changing woman.” Samth went red with this comment and put her head down to the deep snow. Dypes smirked and patted Samth on the back. “Unique was our Lord that he could summon great creature from lands unknown, Brave was he that he practiced magic in a magic free place. Truly he was the best lord of our people and fitting he was our last!” Cheers once again left the lips of all the Asura present. “We will no longer have a lord, the people who follow me to Gord are not following me because I demand it, and they follow because I asked them to.” A tear rolled down Fure’s old face.

Samth’s anger eased up as she smiled at the memory of Espex. The man who freed her from a life of being a small town’s inn waitress.

A whisper came from Samth’s ear, it was Dypes. “We buried Grix next to Espex. It was only fitting he was a warrior and a friend of Espex.”

A tear finally shed from Samth’s hollowed eyes. “Thank you.” She said gently.

Dypes continued to speak gently into Samth’s ear as Fure went on to talk about the other fallen. “After this we need to talk, you need to decide if you come with me and continue Espex search or follow Fure and the rest to Gord.”

“Who was he looking for?” Samth whispered back.

“I will tell you once you decide. The truth may of me knowing may haunt you.”