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Heroic Journey (Chocolate x Nihil)

ChocolateStrawberry

ChocolateStrawberry

Supernova
Joined
Jan 26, 2010
This land had once bee favored by the gods. Prosperous and happy, the people lived in comfort. Their lives content and peaceful. That all changed after the arrival of the dark wizard Iphis. Hungry for power and control, he started the Black War with the peaceful people. Magic razed the land and blood covered the ground. It was dark times for the people and Iphis became the King. Fear crept into the daily lives of the people as King Iphis stole the Oracle, securing his power. Rumors of monsters roaming the countryside kept the good people from trying to get her back. It was a time when a hero could rise.


************

Achlys cowered in her home. Just moments before, her father had shoved her into the tiny hole, shutting the hidden door. She heard him place a chair over the door just seconds before many footsteps sounded on the floor. It was the guards of King Iphis. They had been gathering men and women to rebuild all that was lost during the war. Her father was a skilled armorer, his weapon beyond compare.

Biting her hand in her mouth, she forced herself to remain silent as they took her father. She heard the cart move away, her father lost to her. she also heard the guards still in her house. The sounds of footsteps and things breaking as they took over what was once hers.

"Look at this," one said, "a girl's dress."

"Did the old man have a wife?"

"He had someone here. Find her. The King won't like it if we leave any loose ends."

Achlys cowered lower, hoping that if she was quiet, they wouldn't find her. No such luck. One noticed the hidden door and bright sunlight flooded her hiding space. Strong arms lifted her up, even as she kicked.

"Well, she's too young to be his wife," one said with a leer. "Daughter, maybe?"

"Too pretty to just leave in a hole, too," another said with a laugh. Achlys tried to cover herself, to sheild herself from their eyes. She never thought of herself as really pretty, but that didn't matter to the guards. She was female. Her hair was too dark when blond was the fashion. She had what her neighbor called birthing hips and breasts her neighbor's son swore were made to fit in a man's hand (until she slapped him for trying). She wore modest clothes, her only goal in life to be a priestess at the Temple of the Oracle.

From the look in the guards' eyes, she would be lucky to live. Fear gripped her and she tried to bolt out of her house. Their strong hands grabbed her and she screamed. The gods had abandoned them when King Iphis took control, but Achlys prayed that one still heard her. One would answer her plea.

"Someone! Help me! Please!"
 
Everything had been so swift, Iphis had swept through the land like a breeze and penetrated itself into all facets of life. His influence corrupted and twisted what had once been a prosperous nation into a ruined shadow of former glory. It was a nightmare landscape of mythical beasts of old raised once more to stalk man.

Which is why one lone individual was both enraptured by the totality of the domination and resurrection of the old faith while angered and crossed by the means at which they had destroyed his former way of life.

Theron was young, though blooded upon the fields of Aries, and had seen his family slain by individuals he had once thought of as friends. They had been enticed by the words of a madman and had set against their brothers in arms as though they were enemies, Iphis deserved nothing but death in the eyes of Theron.

Especially for the slight of forcing him to flee, the cowardice left a bitter taste in his mouth as his ancestral home was torched and pulled down to the ground. He had nothing with him, no weapon, no food, nothing.

And so it was that he came upon the home of the smith, who worked the metals of the earth so magnificently. There was nothing crude in the artistry; but the rising of smoke and cries and yells let him know that something was vastly wrong within its walls.

Distracted by the flesh Theron made his way inside and saw just what caused the commotion, his eyes befell a most bewitching beauty. A beauty he could not allowed despoiled by such crude men that would align themselves with Iphis, those black hearts.

Hardening his resolve Theron grabbed a hold of anything which could be used as a weapon and struck at the looters with a mighty war cry. His blood frenzied as he attacked, and he bored the first to the ground with his blow. Surprise was on his side; but he did not know how long his luck would hold.
 
Tears streamed down Achlys' cheeks as the guards pushed her down on the table. Their filthy hands grabbed her and one pushed up her chiton to her waist. Sloppy kisses and slimy tongues were placed on her virginal flesh. When she tried to scream again, one of the guards struck her across the mouth and she tasted blood. This was it, she knew. There was no help for her.

Closing her eyes, she missed what happened next. Focused on her, so did the guards. One moment, she was steeling herself to be raped, and the next she felt the guards pushed away from her. Opening her eyes, she saw her prayers were answered. A stranger fought against the guards with such skill that she was sure Aries himself had just come back to the earth.

She fell to the floor, her legs too shaky to keep her upright as she watched him fight. In what felt like no time at all, the guards were on the ground and only her savior stood. Pulling herself up, she offered him a smile as she pulled her chiton around her body once more.

"Thank you," she said. "You save me." She wanted to repay him. Noticing he had no weapons of his own, she knew just how. "Follow me. I think I have something you might want." She led him to the back forge. The guards had yet to pillage her father's work and several swords still hung in the back. "Take your pick, as my thanks."
 
In the scuffle he had taken from one of his victims their weapon. It was a crude weapon of bronze; but it did its work well. By the time he was finished the edge was chipped where it had bit into bone and armour. Blood ebbed and flowed down its length by the natural desire to pool upon the land as though the earth was some vast blood drinker.

Her words stirred him from his work and the weapon fell to the stone floor with a dull ringing and for the first time he took stock of what he had done. The carnage he had wrought disturbed his mind; but he was more troubled by his thirst for more scenes of such visceral brutality. His tunic was drenched in blood and guts.

Oddly not a weapon had kissed his flesh, none of the blood spilt had been his own.

Wordlessly though he followed Achlys, into the store room of her father's works. The masterfully crafted instruments of destruction. His hand instinctively went to a dark blade of iron, a most tricky metal that was proving itself better then any bronze.

"This, this will be the weapon that I die clutching."

Theron held it in his hand and loved the weight of it. He did not even attempt to swing or thrust with the short leaf pattern blade; there was just the knowledge that it was the best of all those in the room and that its elements called to his soul. He was struck and captivated.
 
Achlys slid a hand down to grip his hand around the sword. "This was my father's favorite," she said, standing next to him. "He said it called to him, from the raw steel. It's special." She felt tears sting her eyes, not wanting to cry in front of her savior.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I just...It's been a hard day." She left him to go back to the main room. The bodies were still on the floor. Some part of her had almost expected them to be gone, that the horror of the day to be gone. She couldn't picture it, her father was gone. She had to get him back! All she had was herself and her savior.

She gasped. That was it. She would get him to help her. Walking back to the forge, she tried to make herself presentable. Standing in the doorway, she said, "Hey, soldier, how would you like to put that sword to good use? I'd like to hire you."
 
Her words echoed into his mind from a far off place. Theron was captivated by the metal in his hand, the destruction it could wrought was enough to make his fingers tingle. With a glance to the blood shed he had caused he just imagined how he could tear through men with this blade.

"I could hue an army with this."

His words were the whisper of a worshipper, his eyes filled with the desire to make use of this implementation of death. Then she spoke words that stirred his soul; she wanted him to fight, to kill, to destroy beast and man.

"Pour a libation of wine to the gods. Let your words be true, I shall fight for you."

And so the young man became a mercenary.
 
She smiled. "I think we have some wine left," she said. "Thank you for helping me. I promise, you won't regret it." She didn't tell him she had little money. Her family had lost so much at the hands of Iphis. She went to get some wine to pour it to the gods.

"Oh, I suppose we should know each other's names," she said. "I'm Achlys. Pleased to meet you." She smiled, looking so sweet in her gratitude. She blushed, realizing she was staring at him. She had never seen such a virile man before. Oh, sure, she had seen soldiers, but none of them made her breath catch in her throat. She was sure they could find a way to work out payment.
 
"Theron."

He tossed out his name as though it was some simple trinket of little worth, and for him it was. Sheathing the blade he thrust the weapon into his belt, there would be time another to properly attach it; but with the pouring of the wine all things must be hurried.

Theron was in motion as she stared at him. Even before all the wine had splattered upon the ground he had grabbed her arm and was pulling her outside.

"Quickly, we must be gone from here. We have declared war upon a city state, a corrupt one, but still a city state."

Theirs would be a difficult task, and some part of Theron's brain wondered just how long Achlys would last in such a brutal world as theirs had become.
 
"Wait," she cried, pulling at her arm. "Let me also get a weapon. I can help you." She knew very little of fighting, but enough to at least take her enemy by surprise. She wasn't going to be some dead weight for him. And, if she couldn't fight, she knew how to cook, and that should be helpful.

She dashed into the forge and grabbed a small, light sword and a sheath belt. she put it on as she ran back out to him. "Okay, ready," she said, pushing her black hair from her face. She could learn how to fight while they traveled. It surprised her how much she wanted to be of help, how much she wanted to stay by his side.

The cart tracks were visible, leading away from the house and toward the hills. Achlys swallowed, knowing the rumors of monsters in that direction. She prayed they were only rumors.
 
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