I N F I N I T E S

Tessra Rune

    Tessra opened her eyes. She was standing in a field of wheat. Oak fences enclosed the field and a scarecrow with a bucket head and wooden sword tied to it's arm with rope.
    Blue skies with bits of cloud dotting the sapphire hung above her. Green grasses and rolling hills continued on to lead to a small village of houses for farmers and their families.
    To the west was a forest of green leaves and plentiful boar for hunting.  The wheat waved in the wind like the sea at high tide. She took a deep breath in and smelled the air. It was the smell of the dirt and of the grass. It was the smell of the old wood and of the breeze. It was the smell of home.
     She took off a gauntlet from her left hand and felt along the grains. She brushed them over as she strode through the amber waves. She missed the feeling of being in a field. That was when she heard a noise. It was the noise of a child's laughter.
    Tessra turned around to face a small girl in a dirty brown dress. She had long orange hair tied up in a pony tail. Her deep green eyes and white smile showed her expression of joy. This was her.
    She waved a wooden stick in the air like it was a sword and pretended a pot lid was her shield. A brown and white spotted dog jumped and played beside her. She was playing her favorite game with the dog, knights and monsters.
    The dog was acting as a great wyvern while Tessra was the unyielding knight.
    "You will not defeat me wyvern. I am a knight and will stop you from taking the villagers."
    She giggled and laughed as the dog happily barked and jumped. Tessra loved to pretend she was a knight when she was a child. That is why the scarecrow had a wooden sword and bucket helmet. She had given them to it so she could use it as her sparring partner and re-enact battles. Of course there is only so much a scarecrow could do.
    This is why the farmer who owned the field would allow Tessra to play with his dog. She got along well with the dog. Unlike her  brothers this dog wouldn't say that her trying to be a knight was foolish. She believed that with all her heart that she could be a knight.
    So everyday when she was done with her chores she would come here to "train."
    "I Tessra, Knight of Runnarra, will defeat you."
    She pointed her stick at the dog as if challenging it. The dog simply pounced on her and licked her face with it's wet tongue.
    "Ok, ok haha! That's enough stop it you'll take my pendant off!"
    The dog got off of the smiling girl and she sat up to readjust a thread tied around her neck. Adorning this thread was a small painted carving of an orange axe head. It was a gift from her mother, and a reminder of her own strength. It was a charm of the Might Goddess Runnarra and Tessra wore it all the time.
    Tessra got off the ground and laughed a bit more until her laughter and smile slowly faded. She could smell something on the air. Smoke. She ran out of the field and climbed over the gate. The dog jumped over the gate and followed behind her. She ran until she could get a clear view of the village and her home.
    She could see a trail of black smoke leading into the sky. She traced the line of smoke with her eye to see that it led to one of the houses on the outskirts of town.
    She thought for a moment that maybe a lantern dropped or that it was some kind of accident, but then she saw it. Amongst the streets were figures in all black. She could not fully make them out, but she could tell that they were no good.
    "Boy, go run home."
    She looked down at the dog. The dog turned it's head. She kneeled down and hugged the dog's neck.
"I'll be fine boy."
She let go and the dog seemingly understood. It ran off in the direction of the farmer's house. Tessra turned around and started to run back to the village. She knew that her father kept a sword and dagger at her house. He kept them in a secret room just tall enough for her to crawl into. It was built under the house and used for storage.
This is where they kept the blades in case they would ever need to be used in defense. She knew there was a back entrance to this room in a small gap that she could crawl through to get under and into the house without being noticed.
She ran down the hill and toward the her home in a worried pace. The closer she got to the village the more intense the smell of smoke became. More houses were burning. She ran ever closer to her house. Now screams could be heard, followed by the slashing of blades.
Her breathing became erratic and wild. She was running out of breath. She had reached the road that led to her house. The figures had not made it this far yet, but she could hear the sounds of heavy metal footsteps. The shape of her home came upon view. She was at the back of it. She got down on her knees and saw the gap in the floor of the house. She squeezed through. Panicked, she looked around to see if she could find the sword.
She thought that if she brought the blade to her father that he could protect her mother, two brother's and her. She scrambled around under the damp wood amongst the cloth wrapped tools and dirt.
That was when she could hear the voices of her family. She heard the frightened tone of her mother.
"What are we going to do. They'll be here any moment and Tessra is still out in the fields."
Her father was trying to hide her older and younger brother under one of the beds.
"I don't know Lena, but what we can do now is hide the boys. Once I know that you and them are safe here I'll go out and look for Tessra."
Her younger Brother was shaking in fear.
"Dad, what's gonna happen to us."
Her father tried to put on a smile and kneeled down to put his hands on her bother's shoulders.
"We are going to be fine."
He wrapped his arms around him.
"W-we're gonna be fine ok."
His breath stuttered and a tear trickled from his eye.
"Now I want you to get under the bed with your brother and don't make a sound, you got it."
He just nodded with tears streaming from his own eyes.
Tessra wanted to say something, but she was still trying to catch her breath as she panted and wheezed. She wandered about still looking for the sword. A small bit of light grazed her eye and she looked up to see that there was a small hole in the wood floors that she could see through.
She saw her mother drying her tears with part of a scarf. She saw her father trying to get her brothers under the bed.
"Ok now jus-"
The door exploded open with slivers of wood flying everywhere. The sudden burst knocked Tessra's mother and father down to their knees. Her father was dazed for a moment than shook his head to regain thought. He crawled in front of her brother's and mother and shielded them with his arms.
Waiting in the door way was something terrible. A figure clad in black and silver armor menacingly stood before them. It ducked it's head so that it could fit through. A deathly purple light radiated out from the holes in it's helmet like the gaze of a reaper. In its hand it clutched a long magik blade with silver ends and a hilt of black bat wings.
It's steps made the floor rumble and creak. A dreading aura came off of it. Like a living shadow it clomped into the room. A Black Paladin.
Instead of rushing in and slashing them down like they thought it would it simply stepped to one side of the room. Another followed in and stepped to the opposite side. They grabbed their magik blades with both hands and pointed their blades to the ground. Then they bowed their heads as something even worse made its way into the room.
A figure with large shoulders draped in a cape of abyss entered the room. The cloak reached over the front of it's body, so they could not even see if it had arms or legs.
It's head was bare and dark with no traces of hair nor face. Only a glass like black V sat on the front of it's face.
"So this is the right house."
It's voice warped the air around him and chilled them to the bone.
"When I had come to this village I had asked if their were any children."
He looked around at the walls and ceiling, as if amused by his surroundings.
"I had searched every house, but I had found none. That is until I came here."
It stepped further into the room and closer to Tessra's family. Sweat was pouring off of each of them. They breathed in short gasps. Tessra wanted to do something, but she couldn't feel her body, so she just continued to watch.
"Yet I find myself still disappointed. I had hoped that there would at least be one young one in this village who would have enough fight in them. Many people in this village worship Runnarra am I correct?"
Her father did not respond.
"She is supposed to be a goddess of might, yet here I find a family filled not with the courage to defend their homes."
He looked to her brother's.
"Only the odor of terror. It really is a shame. I had hoped one day I would be able to face a warrior of legendary strength. Humans can be so weak."
And with that he reached an arm from out of his cloak. It was a gauntleted hand with menacingly sharp claws that had claimed the lives of hundreds. He swung his arm back in the air above his head, and with one wrenching moment he slashed down.
The claws outstretched and tore through each of her family. First her father then her mother, finally her two brothers. A horrible splat noise followed by a low squelching followed. She saw their bodies drop to the floor. Blood ran down the floorboards, through the hole, and dripped onto her cheek.
She fell backwards and felt the coldness of metal press against her hand. It was the pommel of the sword. Rage flowed through her like a violent earthquake. She grasped the handle of the blade, and swung open the trapdoor to the secret room.
She could barely hold the weight of the iron sword up, but she screamed with all her voice and swung it at the cloaked being.
"AAAAAAAAAAGGHH!!!"
The being merely stepped to the side and let the blade hit the floor.
"I"LL KILL YOU!! I'LL KILL YOU!!"
She swung the blade over her head, but missed again.
The being seemed intrigued by Tessra's anger and hatred.
"It appears..."
He lifted his clawed hand and flicked his wrist. One of the claws jetted off the gauntlet and cut Tessra across the nose.
"That there is a child in this village with some fight."
She screamed out in pain and covered her bleeding nose. The sword dropped from her hands and fell to the ground in pain.
The being looked down at her and stared with his lifeless black eye as the claw swiftly returned to the tip of his finger.
"I'm going to let you live. This hatred that you harbor now, clutch it tight. I want you to survive, and become stronger. Then we shall meet again and see if you are able to be more than just a sniveling human girl."
The being spread out a hand and ushered the Black Paladins to leave.
"I want you to leave this house and the girl, but burn every other building to ash."
They turned and left the now bloodied building. The being followed shortly behind.
Tessra now lay writhing on the ground soaked in the tears and blood of her loss. A scene that would always haunt her, and something she will never forget.