Burning Embers Part I: Origins [Arc 1-5]

Arc 4 Chapter 4

10 years ago...

Almarck was no more. Findaris could not believe what he was seeing, nor had it yet registered in his mind. Where the city-garrison had once stood, there was nothing but fire, ashes and the burnt down remains of the buildings. In the distance, he saw that the mansion he had called home since birth was on fire. What? How? Why? These questions went through his head again and again, but he still did not understand.

A fortnight ago, his father had sent him out on another one of his usual trips to the capital: Mon Ardgas. It was a three-days trip, and yet, unlike the usual convoy that the eldest son of the Del Roddea usually went with, Theodus Del Roddea bade him to ride alone and with haste. For this was not some normal visit, but a visit to inform the Royal Family of increased enemy movements on the border with Dagunland; the Templar suspected an army was gathering. As such, Findaris was to ask for reinforcements.

He had reached the capital in only two days, had stayed there for ten, and after several meetings with the royalty and the generals of the Royal Army, he had decided to go back home. Little did he know that the very day he set out towards Almarck, the city had been attacked and demolished. Findaris had stopped by at Liburn for a few hours, where he found that the garrison in that city was mobilising. Questioning the Adventurer's Guild, he had found out there had been a request of aid from Almarck, and immediately set out.

What he came back to was a ruin. How could this have happened in such a short time..? He refused to accept that the Templar could have been defeated by mere monsters. Maybe they made a strategic retreat. From the hill, he looked down upon the remains of his city. By the looks of it, there were at least no humans around, though the perpetrators of this act may not have left the scene yet. I have to investigate. I'll wipe out all stragglers along the way.

Such thoughts gave him the mental strength he needed to descend down the hill, following the unpaved road into the city-garrison that had once stood proud as the home of the Templar. Sunset was too, upon him, and investigating at night was probably not the greatest of ideas. The very first thing he noticed when he came upon the entrance was that there was still a lot of fire; dwellings ablaze, debris everywhere. It was clear that catapult fire had been used.

The very next thing he noticed were a group of goblins who immediately perked up upon seeing the boy, charging at him with their clubs and daggers. They were quickly and easily disposed of as Findaris kept his cool, his sword cleaving through them as a hot knife would through butter. His white and blue robes were now stained with disgusting goblin blood as he wiped the fat from his blade. What followed from here on out was a sequence of events and findings that would break his heart and mind both.

Goblins, just like orcs, feasted on human flesh and would rape human women, though they were not so feared as they could easily be wiped out by even common villagers with pitchforks. As Findaris moved forward, he noticed that the goblins had indeed been feasting on the flesh of a fallen Templar; judging by the uniform. That was not all either. Something which he had missed before, or his mind had intentionally blocked out now became clear. The ground was littered with dozens upon dozens of bodies; human and monsters alike.

It was not just warriors either, but here and there he would spot some of the other people who had lived here; the families of warriors, the servants. Numbing his heart and steeling his mind, he continued to walk deeper and deeper inside the city. On the way, he would meet orcs and goblins frequently, but none even came close to touching him, and all met their ends by his hand.

This...can't be. Findaris heard the cries of a baby, immediately followed by a growl. The cries stopped. No! Rushing to the place where he had heard the cries from; a damaged dwelling, he found only an orc preparing to snack on the little human baby it had stabbed through the heart. White hot fury filled Findaris' body, as he grabbed the orc by the neck, slamming it on the ground and crushing its skull by repeated bashes from the hilt of his sword.