Aetherian(Part 1): A War Begins

Oscar

By the time the sun was rising over the eastern horizon, Oscar's glass blade was drenched with the blood of icewalkers and northern islanders alike. The ice blades of the walkers clashed with his glass sword with ease, but he had a hard time clashing with the islanders' weapons. They used glass malakyte like he did, but they didn't forge any of it into blades, so the only weapons they used were raw, glass rocks on sticks and every one of them fought recklessly and wildly. Their heavier blades nearly knocked his sword out of his hands, though, so when he was faced with more than one, he picked them off with bursts from his assault rifle. They only wore skins and furs from bears and wolves, which offered no protection from plasma bolts or a glass blade. He was surrounded by dead tribesmen again when the sun shined bright on his face.

"Come on, Major," Oscar whined, wiping the blood from his face.

"You're doing good," said Major Lawson, as he suddenly appeared beside him.

"Thank you," Oscar thanked.

"Well, we're almost done here," assured the Major. "We have about an hour left before complete sunrise."

"I'm exhausted, Major," Oscar complained.

"You aren't the only one who woke up at three in the morning," said Lawson. "We'll get breakfast in, say, Whitewater."

"A town on Aetherian's coast?"

"They have the best food you could ask for in a place like this," The Major then suddenly turned west, away from the sunrise, with his eyebrows furrowed.

"What's wrong?" asked Oscar.

"Come on," said Major Lawson, igniting his lightsword, and he began to walk forward. Oscar followed him, with his assault rifle aimed downrange, until they arrived at a threatening sight. The dead bodies of a dozen tribesmen, with either stab wounds in their chests, or without their heads, surrounded a small, stone dome in the snow.

"What happened here?" asked Oscar. "Did they kill each other?"

"No," answered Major Lawson, picking a small, single-bladed glass war ax from the ground that was covered with blood.

"They went in there?" said Oscar, pointing to the dome. "What could be in there that wiped out all of these people?"

"Whatever it is, they woke it up," answered Lawson. "Whatever's in there is dark, and powerful."

"Well, the sun isn't up yet, is it?" asked Oscar. "We might as well, right?" The Major had an unsure look on his face. He turned to the ruins, then back to Oscar. Whatever was in the ruins must have been beyond what Oscar could imagine if it could intimidate a Guardian Knight Major.

"I'm training to become a Guardian, aren't I?" Oscar asked. "I thought part of being one was risking your life to fight against evil, and you said whatever's down there is evil."

"That's fair," Major Lawson admitted. "Let's see what's inside." He went up to the door to the ruins, putting away his lightsword, and slowly pushed it open, into a large chamber with the beginning of a spiral staircase leading underground in the middle of the floor.

"This place was built during the Dragon War, wasn't it?" asked Oscar, as they descended the staircase, with Major Lawson going first.

"Well, people have been in Aetherian for a lot longer than ten thousand years," said the Major, as they reached the bottom. "I mean a lot longer. And we aren't the only ones who have lived here. There's the Epsilon, the Draconians, the Fae, the Giants, and who knows what else?"

"Maybe them," Oscar pointed to the statue of a dragon with its wings spread that stood against the back wall of a stone chamber at the bottom of the spiral staircase.

"Definitely them," agreed Lawson. "Door." They went through a metal door on the wall opposite to the dragon statue, and into a tunnel lit with torches on the walls, leading them down a stairway that led deeper underground.

"At least it's warm, right?" said Oscar, and they both chuckled as they began down the stairs. Major Lawson kept his lightsword on his belt, and Oscar kept his rifle lowered the whole way down the stairs until they reached another, wider doorway that led to a ledge overlooking a huge chamber that was lit with four hanging braziers. In the middle of the room was a long table with a dozen stone chairs set along its edges, and one massive throne at one of its ends, most likely a seat for a lord or King.

"Looks like some kind of conference room," said Oscar. "Or war room."

"I'd bet on 'war room'," agreed Major Lawson, pointing to a stone map of Aetherian on one of the walls. It must have been dated back to when the country was made up of six different kingdoms. Oscar and Lawson went down the stairs from the ledge to look more closely, they saw that each of the kingdoms was labeled in a strange, ancient language.

"What is that, Draconic?" Lawson thought aloud.

"I think so," said Oscar, then he pointed to each of the regions and read out loud "Snowlands, Craglands, Highlands, Swamplands, Windlands, Sandlands."

"Can you read that?" asked the Major.

"No, it just looks like where each of the regions would be."

"Right," Oscar turned around and looked around the chamber again. There were rusted, metal tankards on the stone table, and fur on the seats of the chairs. On the walls were standing coffins and one that was fit for a figure that was twice a person's size.

"I don't like this," he said.

"Me neither." agreed the Major. "I think I know what I felt down here, now." Suddenly, the covers of the coffins flew off, and a walking corpse came from each one. Oscar took a step back with his eyes widened as he raised his assault rifle, and Major Lawson ignited his green lightsword. Each one of the walking corpses barely had any flesh left on their bones, and they all wore rusted armor, and they all had perfect weapons made from glass malakyte.

"Bonewalkers," said Major Lawson. Oscar shot a burst of white plasma bolts at a bonewalker that had a glass mace in its hand, but it didn't drop.

"That won't do you any good," said the Major.

"Will this?" asked Oscar, pulling out his glass sword.

"Yeah, if you cut their heads off," answered Lawson.

"Alright, then," said Oscar. More than anything, he wanted to rush back up to the entrance to the ruins, and back to Ice Spear, but he needed to help Major Lawson.

"Alright, alright," he managed. "Uh, how about I lead a few of them up the stairs so you don't have to take on a dozen at once?"

"Are you sure?"

"No, but let's do it," As the bonewalkers marched to surround them, Oscar sprayed rounds from his assault rifle at the bonewalkers while walking up the stairs to the war room backward. Five of them were lured to Oscar. One had a glass double-handed greatsword, another had a pair of small war axes, one had a warhammer, and the other two both had broadswords.

"Come on, you piles of bones," Oscar mocked, as he backed into the tunnel. The bonewalker with the greatsword charged at Oscar, slamming his blade down. Oscar took its head off with his own sword before the undead could raise his. The walker with the pair of war axes wildly rushed at him next, flailing its blades. Oscar managed to block and parry a few of the attacks with his glass sword before taking the bonewalker's head off. The undead with the warhammer slammed its weapon on the ground, and it became stuck in the bricks, and Oscar stabbed it through the neck, cutting its head off. The last two bonewalkers both attacked with their glass blades. Oscar managed to stand his ground against them, blocking swings from their attacks as they backed up some more. He then took the heads off of one of them, but the last one knocked him to the ground with a hard swing from its blade. Oscar raised his sword to block the next attack from the undead, but as it was about to raise its own glass blade, its head suddenly came off. The bonewalker shattered beside Oscar, then Major Lawson pulled him to his feet as he put away his green lightsword.

"Thank you," said Oscar.

"I'll bet the sun's up by now." said the Major. "You did well."

"You really think so?" asked Oscar.

"Leaving four dead bonewalkers behind you is something to be proud of," assured Lawson. "You sure have what it takes to be a Guardian."