To Love & Protect (#2 A story from the world of Arcaya)

Chapter 12: The Search For Wolfkin

I remember that I met a small girl named Miranda and if I think about it, she resembles the grown up Miranda I met in that tavern. I went to Stormwind and found what seemed to be dried blood from a battle that was patterned as though a group of people had cut their way through a mess of D'Jargo. I followed that and soon found a camp for four. I understand two of them must be Miranda and Brutis, I wonder who the third and fourth person is though. I followed there trail from there, I found a scuffle and a few bandit bodies, nothing to indicate the kids were hurt though. Following the trail from there I found a tavern being ransacked by many bandits. One charged me and that was the last mistake he ever made, I sliced his throat open with my claws and threw him into a group of bandits. I went into the tavern and searched around. I found a room belonging to a girl with clothes strewn about, I recognized one outfit from the day I met Miranda. So I am following their trail, good, maybe I can find them. I walked back outside and slashed a few more bandits here and there, they weren't warriors, they barely knew how to fight, and for that, it was easy to kill them.

I suddenly felt a very strong presence. I followed where I felt it was and came to a clearing. I saw Brutis and Miranda, Miranda was frozen in place with some weird blue-green cord that I could see through, my guess was magic. Brutis was standing facing a man with a sword from ancient japan on his back, a scarf hiding his face and flowing freely less than a foot behind him. The man also had loose fitting pants that seemed to be cloth and he had no shirt, showing off his toned abdomen, six pack and all. There was a very large scar straight down the man's chest.

It seemed they were about to fight. Shortly after that thought I was proven right. I watched them exchange words for a bit, but I couldn't hear them over the bandit raid behind me. Then the man lunged at Brutis and he dove to the side. Brutis held his sword at the ready as he rolled to his feet. The man was instantly in Brutis's face once again, swinging the sword towards his head. Brutis parried it with the hand guard on his blade. Nice move, this guy would be a very good sparring partner. He stabbed at Brutis as the man swung his sword. With a graceful spin Brutis parried his dagger away and clashed the two swords together. Brutis swung his sword again and again, blocking strike and stab alike. Brutis jumped skillfully to avoid a low slice from the man's dagger, and Brutis landed on a shield. The man yelled as he jumped high above Brutis with both weapons ready to cut into Brutis. Brutis grabbed the shield and swung it toward the man, there was a loud crack and sparks as the long blade broke in half and the dagger drug across the shield.

The man seemed dizzy from the blow. Brutis threw the shield at him to hit him in the face and the man flexibly bent backwards to avoid it. As the man bent backwards his eyes met mine for a moment and widened. He then threw his dagger at Brutis, who raised the shield to block it. It bounced off of the shield and the man slashed the air and jumped through a red and pitch black portal. I looked back to where Miranda was standing. Brutis walked up to her and touched her shoulder, she unfroze and dropped to her knees. I watched them speak for a while and when they stopped speaking they took off into the woods. I turned into a wolf and followed them. They met with some old man who I assumed was their third member of their group. They spoke about a man named Danny leaving to fight something that I don't know how to pronounce. When they set up camp I waited for them in nearby bushes, watching as I learned relations. The old man seemed to be a type of hermit with no relation to the two other than being group members. Miranda and Brutis, however, acted like me and Jackie acted. She kissed him a lot more than Jackie kissed me though, and I wondered if there was something wrong between us. The old man handed everyone a bowl of beans and meat. Being that I hadn't eaten since I left Jackie and Sai I changed back to human and walked into camp right after they finished eating.

As I walked I spotted a few twigs and snapped them on purpose to let them know so they wouldn't think I was sneaking around. Then I chose the noisiest looking bushes and parted them forcefully. Brutis stood up, knocking his bowl to the ground and drew his sword, Miranda followed suite, obviously not recognizing me as the guy who saved her. Well, this isn't how I wanted this to go. The old man, however, just sat there calmly. They all looked me over for a long moment. Knowing and feeling the tension I spoke calm, "I am no enemy. I come in peace." Jeez, how corny could I get? Brutis looked at Miranda and the old man, he seemed protective of them and I guessed he wanted to see if they were ready to fight.

The old man spoke after a moment, "If you had wished us harm, we would be dead by now because of that sword. The Ashbringer is unique, where did you get it, young man?" the old man's voice was seasoned with years of being a warrior, I definitely did not want to fight him.

I responded to the simple question as anyone who wished for peace would, truthfully, "From a tower in a castle town named Stormwind." This caught Miranda's attention.

Miranda sheathed her sword, "You. You are the guy I met in the forest to help us, but, your hair was black then, what happened?" Brutis slowly put his sword away. Oh thank god she recognizes me now.

I wanted to eat more than anything, "That is a long story." There was so much tension though, I feel like I'd puke if I tried to eat

The old man threw an animal skin on an empty bit of dirt, "Then sit, eat, and tell it. I am intrigued on who you are." This has to be a trap.

But what do I have to lose at this moment? I dusted a bit of dirt off of the animal skin, sat, and grabbed a bowl, "Thank you, very much." I said, very conscious of how I was moving and speaking, I tried not to be aggressive in any way, I could lose my life trying to fight them.

After I had taken a couple bites of food, I spoke, "My name is Ad Woods. I have been on a long journey to revive my sister. Before I even knew I could revive my sister I met Miranda, she called for my aid to save Stormwind. Even though I didn't know what a D'Jargo was at the time I still came to help. When I realized that I couldn't save her from all the beasts I locked her in a cabinet in town square and tried to lead them away." I ate some more while Brutis spoke

Brutis still seemed ready to fight, "I saved her from being in there, a large D'Jargo was breaking into it." Whatever Brutis says, I didn't want to fight him.

I took a deep breath, Thank god this guy was there, I thought she had died, "Well then I thank you for saving her, I would've felt bad if she died because of me." I sipped up the last bits of food from the bowl, "Well, I met a giant blue D'Jargo with a black sword with red spikes on it. I fought it but had to use demon's blood to get the strength to kill it. During the fight I blew a hole in the side of a tower, and when I went inside I found old relics, worn out swords, and some monk robes with leather battle padding. After walking around for a bit I came upon a picture of a man named 'Jackson 'The Lone Wolf' Johnson'." I was interrupted again.

Well, as long as Brutis wasn't fighting me, he could speak, "I met him in a town tavern, and he told me the story of which he earned that name. I saw that sword's destructive power in his story." How cool, Brutis actually met Jackson.

I began speaking again, "His sword was incased in some type of clear metal near the picture, I couldn't break it open so I looked around for a key and jumped into a hole in which I could see the key. When I tried to pick up the key a giant rock guardian attacked me. I tried to fight it but it was too strong, a man that called himself 'The God of this World' came to my aid. I had noticed the sword had fallen into the hole while this man was fighting the guardian, and when I picked the sword up, words started coming out of my mouth in form of some old prayer. When the prayer had finished I had swung the sword and a white flame came out and destroyed the guardian." I don't think they need to know that I am the disciple of Drakath the God.

The old man spoke next, "My name is Gyermo, you already know Miranda, and this is Brutis. We are traveling to save their friend Danny who has been infected by a powerful demon by name of Tru'maine. We would be honored if you would join us on this journey." Just as he finished the sentence, my head got an amazingly hurtful headache and I felt like I was falling before I blacked out.

When I woke up it was morning and there was a blue wolf under my head as a pillow and an animal skin blanket. I was some faint grey opaque line going from me to the wolf and I understood that the wolf was Sai, somehow she was able to change like me. Everyone else was asleep, so I shape shifted into a wolf and ran off, planning to catch some meat for the group to eat as breakfast. After a while of prowling through the forest I met a group of deer, I chased after the biggest on and jumped on it, my weight pushing it down so I could bite its neck and snap it. I prowled around until I had three deer in total, I couldn't help howling after every kill. Then I shapeshifted back into human form and picked up the three dear and headed back to camp.

When I got back to camp, old man Gyermo jumped to his feet and praised me for hunting, "Well done Ad, I haven't had venison in years." He started a fire, then me and him began skinning and preparing the meat to be cooked and eaten.

~To Be Continued~