Are you ready to become a Hero of the realm?

Chapter One

He was turning the scroll in his hand. Turn the page? There was nothing on the back of the scroll or any sign of another page.
He turned to the other members of his party and handed the scroll over to his second in command. She was floating almost a foot above the ground and her weapon of choice, a blue ornamented mirror, hung right next to her head in mid-air. A large scroll as well as two smaller scrolls were held together by a purple rope and were fastened to green leather straps which wrapped around her shoulders and hips. Her dress, which revealed almost the entirety of her legs, was the same shade of blue as her mirror and seemed to flow on an invisible wind and a rose-coloured crystal was embedded in the middle of her chest. Black hair flowed around her head, and was half-up in a ponytail, the other half falling down to her shoulder blades. Elongated and pointed ears peeked out from underneath her locks and were decorated by crystals which were the same shade of pale pink as the one decorating her dress and mirror.
Her grey eyes looked into his. Most people would describe the colour grey as boring, but her eyes were different, like you could see stars dancing around her Irises in ever-changing constellations. Through her pale blue veil, he saw her smiling up at him. The scroll slid into her hand, as she read what kind of errand the king had for them.

A few minutes passed, while he looked out onto the pavement of the Stone Keep and the pedestrians passing each other in the market square, which was decorated in the colours of autumn for the upcoming annual celebration. He could see that all townspeople were excited for the feast and firework. Our hero was secretly looking forward to the midnight dance. He hoped his best friend would give him the honour to dance under the stars with him, while the shooting stars coloured the sky in shades of red, pink and blue. "This is weird." Her voice startled him. "There is something missing and I can't sense any hiding spells on this." She let the open scroll float in the air in front of her and frowned at it. He looked over to her. "So, what do you suggest we do?" "I think we should to find the messenger. Did anybody see him?" She turned to their travelling company, who all shook their heads no. "I found it tied to our doorknob", Hero said. He explained that he had noticed it on the way back from the washroom this morning. Anybody could have left that note without them noticing because they were staying in a little inn near the large stone wall that surrounded the keep. "I guess we'll have to go to the king himself, then.", Ying mumbled. Hero agreed: "We have no other choice." The five of them packed their bags and left the inn after a hearty lunch.

They crossed through the many market stands to the other side of the keep and passed a pair of guards on the bottom of the hill leading to the king's castle. The building itself was a round shape with a chimney on top. It was similar to a bomb, with the chimney being the fuse and the castle being the shell filled with explosives. 

They approached slowly and waited for the men to ask them what their business with the king was or shoo them away but instead, they nodded once in unison and let them pass. The party climbed the hill, Ying being the fastest because she wasn't really walking but floating. Atop the incline, a loud boom sounded from inside the castle. The second pair of men guarding the entrance didn't seem to mind though, so the travellers kept calm but mentally prepared for a fight. As the shiny grey doors to the castle insides were pushed open by the guards, the party entered warily, already on the lookout for possible threats.

The throne room was built as a half circle, which seemed to have no ceiling. It was barely lit, thus leaving the five in almost complete darkness. Luckily, Androxus was able to see fairly well in the dark space. His midnight blue coat vanished, as he dashed forward, to check for a possible ambush. He held his grey revolver at the ready, which looked like it had teeth attached to it as well as green crystals embedded in the magazine. Despite his metal boots, he was no louder than a soft breeze. The razor-like spikes atop his head gleamed, as he flew past the only window that was lighting the room. The Godslayer, that's what the people called him. Hero didn't know what god he killed, but he was sure he didn't want to get on Androxus' bad side.
The Godslayer returned to the rest of the party, his artificial green eyes meeting Hero's with a slight nod being the confirmation that the room was safe to enter. Hero was always surprised that he didn't flinch whenever Androxus dashed toward him. Everything about him felt dark and terrible. Androxus, lacking a mouth and nose, was not able to portray emotions as easily as other creatures living in the realm, but something about him always felt sad and lonely. Hero looked at the Godslayer, who has been a friend and part of this family of misfits for a long time already, and returned the nod. He started walking toward the single window in the room, which was built right behind the massive throne, which took up almost the entire wall and was decorated with crystals and gold.