A Mystical War

The Beginning

I gripped my shield tighter and readied for the incoming blow. The soldier brought his mace down, smashing my shield to bits. I countered his strike with a stab to the gut, piercing his armor. I ripped the blade out and stood, ready for the next soldier. Jeni was quickly dispatching a soldier with her daggers, spinning with the grace of a dancer. While I was admiring her, I got caught off guard as a quick pommel strike knocked me to my knees. I looked at the soldier towering over me through blurry vision when out of nowhere he gets tackled. I grabbed my sword and got to my feet unsteadily. I looked around to see Jeni finishing off another soldier. I noticed Krys was the one who saved me as he was pounding the face of the soldier into the ground, yelling "And stay down!" I saw no other adversaries.

After the fight I was cleaning my sword in the field with Jeni while Krys was re-wrapping his knuckles when we heard horses. As I prepared for the worst, Jeni quickly grabbed her bow and aimed. Krys was still wrapping his knuckles nonchalantly. I saw the commander on a white horse, accented with gold armor. "Ah shite. We got the head comin'?" Krys more said than asked, still sitting on a tree stump. As I lowered my blade the commander said, "Robyn, we have direct orders for you." "Yessir." I responded. "You are to go to an elven village and take any able-bodied persons for the forces." I looked at him, to see if he was serious. Elves and humans don't help each other very often, and I don't see why this would be an exception. But I got what he meant, whether they wanted to or not.

It was a small trek, and I was by myself. I worked better alone anyway, nobody to look after in the heat of combat. I saw the treehouses and the elves, and they saw me. I heard the arrows get knocked into the bows. I heard the creak of the drawstrings, so I raised my hands. "I'm here to talk," I called into the trees, "I seek counsel with the elders." As I said this all the elves glanced at one another.

A few minutes later I found myself sitting on an elegant chair. My armor and sword were being looked over by a few elves, making sure I wasn't hiding anything. I looked over to the elders which were one woman and two men. "What would a human want with Emarius?" The woman asked. "Al-Draenor requires help," I responded, "We are at war with Isonall. And we need bodies." The older man scoffed, "You think we'd give you, a stranger, some of our people to die for your cause? What even is your cause? Do you even know?" The older man questioned.

"We're on the defensive. That is our cause. To defend our people." I responded. The younger male elder finally spoke up, "I understand that. But what do we get out of this?" Then the door was flung open. "I'll go with her." A sweet, young voice rang out. That's when I turned around and saw her, a beautiful young woman with bright green eyes, shoulder length hair, and soft facial features. She looked like she couldn't lift a training sword, let alone help us in a war. "No. I won't allow that." The woman elder said, quickly. "Oh come on Delsa." The young elder said with an exasperated sigh. "Jericho," The elder woman, Delsa, said, turning to look at the younger elder, "you of all people should know that that's a bad idea." The older elder looked at the young girl in front of her, raised his eyebrows and interjected, "Actually, Delsa I think it's a wonderful idea. It'll give Anastasia more life experience, and would only do her good."

"Aire, for the love of the gods, don't tell me you actually think that. She'll get killed out there!" Delsa exclaimed. The girl, who I learned was Anastasia, looked me up and down. "So you're a human soldier?" She inquired. That's when I noticed that she didn't have the pointy ears of an elf. She had to be a human. "You're a human aren't you?" I asked in return. She chuckled, "Yeah, I was abandoned when I was a baby, Delsa found me on the trail and took me in." I just nodded in understanding. "Guard, show these two to the training grounds." Aire commanded. I looked at Anastasia, sighed, and thought to myself... 'This should be fun.'