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Nanowrino-Maplestory Fanfiction Stories
Hi everyone! Today is the first day of NANOWRIMO! Is anyone making any fan fiction stories about maplestory and share it today? Just post your title and a few paragraphs. I am curious what people will come up with this year.
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Maplestory! Where everyone started their fateful journey on Maple Island. Maplestory! A world filled with action, adventure, and rewards that could satisfy even the simplest explorer with riches and fame. The tales could go on about this place from fighting monsters to the death to helping people out in town. But, what was Maplestory? Was it a place to simply fight and go around finding your next adventure. Sadly, that was not my case.
According to legend, every explorer was brought into this world by one tree. That tree was not an ordinary maple tree. Of course, the leaves on that tree was red, but it had a weird glow? Whenever a red leaf falls to the ground, a young human magically materialized from that very leaf and opened their eyes to the new word before them. This sounded like a silly legend right? Well, I thought the same thing to, but it was not the case when my leaf fell down on that very ground, and I appeared. Yeah, it was red all right, maybe glowing, but there were a few brown or black spots on it. It was not the most perfect leaf in the world. Oh no! If anything, you could assume the leaf was sick or probably a bad leaf that probably should be burned. Well, they were probably right about one of those two things, but they had their chance to do so.
However, my leaf fell down on that soft warm grass, and I materialized with an eerie glow. I opened my eyes and looked at the world before me for the first time. I looked to the side of me and noticed a glowing leaf fell to the ground. It materialized another person next to me. Her leaf however didn't have any spots or imperfections. She opened her eyes and twirled around for she was excited to see the world for the very first time. Then when her eyes finally looked at me, her happy smile turned into a frown. Her pale blue eyes had the look of disgust and turned to reveal her flowing red hair. I don't know what I did wrong. I came down the same just like any other character would. However, she moved on ahead not saying a word beyond the shade of the tree and disappeared. I tried to shrug it off, but it started to nag at me a bit. I didn't understand what I did that cause someone to dislike me at first glance. I materialized just like she did.
But, I noticed that I looked at everyone else but myself since I entered this strange world. As I looked at my own arm, I was of course not in the same glow as she was. However, I was actually dark brown from my fingers to my toes. I stepped outside the shade of the tree and sighed. I took another look at myself and I finally saw what I was wearing. I was suddenly wearing a simple gray shirt, blue shorts that were above my knee caps, and some sandals that were every loose on my feet. At that moment, I had to sigh a bit, and I felt dread hanging over me when I looked behind me and saw more leaves fall down on that very ground. Their reaction was just like the last girl when they saw me as I passed by. At that moment, I had to confirm that I am not going to be well liked here for some reason. With that in mind, I decided to go ahead to the next area.
I gathered around with the other humans as there was a taller human on a floating rock with a white armor on, a red skirt, and shoulder pads made out of metal over both of her shoulders. She was talking to everyone who came by. But, when they were done talking to her, I noticed the humans disappeared without a trace. I gave a long sigh as I approached this girl on the rock, her pig tails were bound by two large red bows. I didn't look at her at first. I assumed she would treat me like anyone else that came to this world. When I approached her, I had my head down. But, I could hear her say,
(Okay now someone share a passage of their story. And let me know where I can find it too like deviant or fanfiction.net
They say time heals all wounds, but does that include mortal traumas to the fragile heart? We are taught to forgive and press on, grudges and memories both dissolving into oblivion. Yet for some, the scars brought forth by fate's cruel handiwork never truly fade away. They remain hidden buried deep from prying eyes behind a single painted innocent smile. With every nostalgic moment corroding jealousy's binding shackles, until a day when that single supporting chain finally snaps in twain.
When malevolence finally awakens from imprisonment, what is one suppose to do with such a strong motivating vigor? Become the selfless sacrificial lamb stopping one's own life in exchange for ending a painful Greek tragedy, or continue living a cursed existence as a mere puppet’s role with little hope of ever achieving purifying redemption?
For one individual, that choice is hastily approaching. In the stormy winter regions of ElNath where glistening ice crystals in the wind share a tranquil beauty beneath a cruel malevolence.
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It was 5:00 in the morning when her alarm clock's chirping arousing its sleeper from their reverie. Malixion sat up from her bed still groggy and silenced the wakeup call.
“I'm scheduled to work a double shift today. Yet another sunless day and sleepless night ahead for me" she muttered to herself.
Called mostly "Xion" by her coworkers and relatives, she was slightly below average height, with charcoal colored hair bobbed just above her ears. When lacking any sign of sleep deprivation, the youth's eyes would be a vivid shade of azure, contrasting the facial pallor caused by lack of sun exposure.
Sunlight was at a premium being born and raised within the snowy regions of Ossyria, at the base of the ElNath Mountains. Even in mid summer, typical daylight would only last for a mere 6 hours before sinking beneath the polar horizon; welcoming the arctic night air. Yet still, residents in the central town of ElNath were able to adapt accordingly and still went about their casual lives while still extending warm hospitable gestures to travelers who regularly ventured through the area.
Xion contributed to this culture by waiting tables at the town's tavern to make ends meet. Growing up, her dream was to become a renowned researcher uncovering lost fables, tales, and lore. Granted, waiting tables was not her ideal choice of a career but, it was the only opportunity available that would let her cover rent, utilities, and of course satisfy those accursed student loan creditors she thought could help her cut the apron strings.
Upon turning the age of adulthood, she enrolled in Victoria Island's Ellinia Magic Academy to study legends following the great heroes while dabbing into rudimentary magic as an elective. The tranquility of becoming one with the world while harnessing the will of ethereal mana greatly intrigued the young student and gave her yet another field of study to excel at. Being natural exposed to the cold elements during childhood served most useful in invoking the arctic will of nature for potent ice spells.
After a few years, Xion graduated from the academy as both a historian and an intermediate magician in ice magic. Applying her skills and talents proved to be a challenge more gruesome than final examinations.
Even after all this educational training, all this time and effort studying, and financial risk in obtaining her graduation degree, Xion still was unable to find any employer who would hire such a fresh novice at a salary capable of wiping away her debt.
Feeling exhausted and defeated, the former student returned back home and continued working at the tavern as if nothing had happened in between the years spent on sabbatical. For now, all that could be done was to keep the mesos coming in, hoping of ever escaping this occurring debt.
It was now 5:15.
Xion donned her server's apron, slipped on her black coat over the top of the uniform, and stepped into the dark bitter twilight air.
"Am I even close to this place?" I asked myself. It was my first time coming to this place. So, nothing prepared me for this desert trial. There was no water, no shade, and nobody around to hear my complaints. I looked again at the sun beaming down on me as I tread on the dusty ground. I looked left and right of me, and all I saw was rocks and dried weeds. It took me a while to realize that I was officially lost. The sweat kept raining down from my blue hair, the drops rolled down my brown skin til it soaked up my white shirt and shorts. Actually, my blue shorts was starting to stick to my body. I looked at my untidy sandals and gave a loud sigh of hopelessness.
"I need to find some shade." I told myself. I kept looking around that broiling desert til I seen something far away. Was it shade? Was it town? I don't know, but for some reason, I forced myself to move further down the path towards that area. I started to feel my skin burn while walking, and the white bandanna with a maple leaf was not holding the sweat well. Well, maybe it was. But now, if I took it off, it must be filled with sweat. I walked faster to the place regardless that my energy was about to run out. The heat of the sand was rising due to long exposure of the sun, but I tried to press forward. When the place came into view, I could shout. But, I knew I didn't have the energy to yell. So, I said in the wispy voice.
"Finally, I made it to Perion!"
Yes, this was warrior's country Perion. The place where brave warriors and knights were born. The birthplace of the sword, ax, spear, and mace users. I was really excited. I ran and tripped on the ground. My face planted on the ground. I felt very weak from the desert trial, that I probably looked weak to everyone who saw me made that big mess up. I tried to pick myself up, but it was hard. My energy finally ran out, and I needed a spot to rest. I saw these stone like chairs on the same path the area.
"Those things look hot?" I thought as I saw the chair steaming kinda like the sand I walked on. But it was worse staying on that hot sand. I quickly jolted back up, when my skin started to burn me. It was like a dozen hot pins searing my skin. I tried to walk to the stone like bench, when I noticed someone was walking on the path. I moved out of the way when they were in view. There were two pairs of warriors laughing and talking to each other. At first, I thought they were laughing or talking about my blunder, but they didn't even notice me. They were walking comfortably in those metal suits in the hot sun.
"How?" I thought as I watched those warriors disappear into the desert which I entered from. I knew this was the path I wanted to take, and I know that I can't just complain while I just saw a bunch of warriors passed me with no problem with the heat. While I tried to run for the place to start my training, I heard a voice from afar.
"Why are you in such a hurry? You might die before you start your first bit of training!" I looked sharply in to the direction of that voice. It was a light skinned boy with orange hazel like eyes, he had no armor on. He basically has a gray shirt and orange shorts with little blue boots. "This guy has no taste in clothing." I thought. He was lounging under a stick like tree that barely gave any shade and had a smug like grin on his face. He chuckled a bit when he realized he got my attention.
"What do you mean by that?" I asked defensively.
"I am just saying. You just came into town and looked like you almost fainted on the ground." he pointed at the sand particles on my face, hands, and even on my shirt. "You're a mess. Showing up like that will definitely give you no points to the head of Perion. They're maybe rugged, but you got to have some decent hygiene." he poked fun again at my rugged dirty, sweaty clothes. I glared at him with no intent in arguing with this stranger who looks as dirty and untidy as me. When I was about to turn and continue with my own business. I heard him shout.
"HEY! Don't ignore me!" I know I didn't have the energy to keep moving, but I mustered what I had just to get away from this guy. With determination, he actually started to follow me. As I panted with every foot step, he kept drawing near behind me.
"You don't look so well." he tapped my shoulder hoping for a reaction, but I kept on moving. However, my body finally gave out again, and I collapsed to the ground. "HEY! Are you okay? Answer me?"
"I'm not dead..." I mumbled as I tried to pick myself up again, but ended up kissing the ground where I fell. It was no use. The desert sapped all of my energy, and I can no longer move. Suddenly, I felt hands trying to lift me up. It was that annoying guy again hoisting me on his shoulders.
"Wow! You are a mess. You can't go the chief in your condition." he stated. I really didn't want his help, but I had no choice. He led me to a tepee where a woman was working at the pot. The guy stood up from his chair when he saw me and the strange guy I just met. This guy had blonde hair and light skin, but his clothes had a more native style that matched the Perion rugged nature.
"Is he hurt?" he asked.
"No! I believe this guy is just exhausted. Do you think you have anything for him to drink?" he asked in anticipation to help me out. "Why is this guy trying to help me?" I thought. He has no obligation to help me, but he persists like we are best friends. At the moment, I am not seeking any friends or even partnerships. The guy who was indeed the shop owner gave me a small vile of red liquid inside. I looked at it in puzzlement because I never seen such a concoction before. Is it strawberry, cherry, or even fruit punch flavor?
"This potion should perk you right back up." he stated. I stared at the bottle with distaste.
"Drink it already." demanded the guy who dragged me in here. I refused to take one sip of that concoction, but he grabbed the bottle from my hand. With swift movements, he punched me in the gut, and I let out a gag sound. He came around, put the liquid into my mouth while my attention was on the pain, and forced my mouth closed.
"Mmmmmm Mmmm!" I struggled to get his hand out of my mouth, but he out his arm around my nose. This was almost suffocating me. When I swallowed the liquid, he let me go.
"Are you mad?" I asked him while gasping for air. Soon, I felt the heaviness lifting from my body when I started to regain my posture. Soon, I realized I was suddenly getting better. It wasn't one hundred percent, but the fatigue was feeling my body. I looked at the shop keeper and the strange dude I met at the tree in Perion.
"Ahh! So, this is your first time drinking my potions. Well, you better get use to it, as a warrior, you'll be chugging these bottles daily. You'll practically be my regular customer." he stated. I was starting to feel a bit light headed from the sudden recovery, but I was able to stand to my feet. I looked at the guy and gave a bow of graditude. "Thank you for bringing me here." I said with a smile.
"No problem! By the way, what is your name? I never seen a brownie like you with blue hair and aqua green eyes." He waited for an answer as I looked for the exit. "My name is Zevan of the Tovaki Family." I said calmly. The guy laughed at my strange name.
"Tovaki! I never heard of them." he poked fun. I tried to ignore his rude statement, and I walked towards the door. "I guess you're too busy to tell me who you are." I remarked as I head outside the tent. However, I was stopped by the store owner. "Wait! That bottle is not cheap! That's worth fifty bronze pieces." he said sternly. I sighed and pulled out my bag that was in my pocket. " Sorry! I only have fourty bronze pieces. Will this do? I will play you the ten when I get some jobs." I tried to suggest while holding the bag of 40 bronze pieces.
"You're hopeless. I guess you need to work that off by helping me in my shop." I knew this was going to happen. I only scrounge this much money by just defending myself from puny snails on the way here. So, I ended up doing errands for a while in his shop. That guy I met watched me as I worked. He grinned at me while I was rearranging the bottles on the shelves. "You still haven't given me your name." I said roughly as I struggled to get some bottles to the higher shelves.
"Oh yeah! My name is Anon! I am from the Family of Zerk" he replied.
"Zerk???" I said puzzled. "You got no right to make fun of my name with a weird family name like Zerk." Anon looked at me with his hazel eyes cheerfully.
"Well, I know you're new around here, and so am I? What brings you hear to Perion anyway. You were in bad shape going through the desert alone."
" Oh... I was trying to become a warrior here. I heard about the 5 towns of Victoria Island. I was offered different types of jobs to take on, but I decided I wanted to travel to Perion. I didn't expect the journey to be harsh." I stated.
"Well, they only want the strong." He continued, "Besides, what kind of warrior do you want to be anyway? Being a warrior is just the beginning of the job. Do you have a long term goal in mind."
"Well, I decided that I want to be a page." I said while finishing up wiping the next shelve and putting the bottles back.
"A page? HA HA HA! You're pretty much clueless. Well, I am going to be a dragoon and hold a might spear against my enemies. Spearman use power not brains and praying to the maple gods for elemental power." he mocked. I didn't respond and finished the last shelf til the shop keeper told me that I paid my debt. I left the place quickly to head to my next destination. I knew the shop delemia was just a set back from my real goal to become a warrior.
Unfortunately, the annoying Anon was still following me again. I knew this guy was trouble, but I didn't think of him as my friend.
"You can go on with your business Anon. I am sure you don't need a page." I tried to walk faster.
"Wait!" he shouted. "You're going the wrong way!" I froze for a minute as Anon caught up with me and was gasping for air.
"I am also headed to see Dances with Balrog who is the leader of Perion, but you are not heading to his temple." he pointed to the path. I looked around and realized that there was no temple ahead of me. I guess I have no sense of where the place is. With even a louder sigh, I turned to Anon and said, "If that is the case, where is the temple?"
"HA! I knew you needed me. Being a page and all is going to be rough without me." he smiled with excitement. Again, I feel like this guy is going to stick with me like glue. We both walked together and talked about our plans on what we were going to do once we were dubbed warriors. I was thinking of probably doing some mercenary work for a while before going on adventures. Anon was thinking about getting rich quick and getting powerful fast. It was a long walk til we reached the stone like temple at the edge of Perion.
"Here we are! The place where warriors are born!" he said with excitement. I gave a huge gulp. I knew I wasn't warrior material. I couldn't even get through the desert. However, Anon saw me stepping back with second thoughts. He came down and pushed me up the stairs of the temple.
"What's up with the cold feet? Come on! Let's get you started Page! So, you can be my meat shield!" he stated with a sense of laughter under his tone.
"Wait! What did you call me?" He wouldn't answer and pushed me up to the door. It was quite heavy to move, but we were able to squeeze through the crack of the door when it was large enough. The Temple was amazing. There was statues of three types of warrior. They were probably known for doing something great in victoria. However, sitting on a stone like throne was a small man with tan like skin. He had a feather hat that went down to the floor and clothes that was native to this land.
"So, have you two come to join the brotherhood of warriors?" He asked me and Anon. " Of course! Why on earth do you think otherwise?" he said trying to be a wise ass. The guy got up from his throne and approached us. He looked at me and Anon with disapproving looks. "You don't look like warrior material. Not yet anyway."
"What was that old man? Me and Zevan can handle anything you throw at us." he said in a high and might tone.
"Shut up Anon! You're going to get us in trouble with the leader of Perion." I whispered, but I believe he just brushed me off, and looked at him squared in the eyes. "What can you do little man!" he poked fun at his size. I was shocked at what I've seen next. It was so fast, that I didn't couldn't even believe it. The little warrior wrestled Anon to the ground with pure power. I stepped back as he glared at me with Anon pinned down to the ground.
"You best be wise not to make fun of my size." he said angrily. "For I am Dances with Balrog. I don't take smack from no newbie here unless you prove your worth." he said. Anon was yelling in agony and struggled to break free from Dances hold. Finally, I had to intervene or I believe the guy is going to really hurt Anon.
"Wait! We didn't come here to fight with you! We only wanted to train under your instruction." I said boldly, but I suddenly shrunk back when he looked at me with a glare. He let go of Anon who squirmed away when Dances weight was off him. He approached me, but I refused to take my eyes off of him. For fear that he may tackle me down as well.
He was now before me with a frightening glare. His black pupils in his eyes feel empty. I couldn't tell if this was because he was an experienced warrior or seen terrible things that his look is quite cold. I stood my ground even though I felt a slight tremble in my hands. I balled them up to keep them from shaking. There was a long pause of silence while he was staring at me. Then out of the blue, he started laughing. I excelled a lot and my legs felt week that my knees finally touched the ground.
"I guess you two may do, but you guys are very weak, I cannot deem you warrior til you train and get stronger." He suggested observing my scrawny body. Of course, I wasn't warrior material. I almost died in the desert on the way here, but I let out a smile. This was my chance to become a warrior. I saw Anon limping around or hoping because he was hurt from Dances attack.
"Hey! Go easy on us! We're only newbies." he complained. Dances ignored his babble and looked at me. "A true warrior is not just judged by his strength, but his purpose. You two need to train hard." he opened the stone doors and gave us a training sword. "Your first task is to help the good people in this city. Once I hear recommendations from them, I will deem you fit to be warriors." Then with one fell swoop of his ax, a gust of wind blew us out of the temple, and the doors finally shut.
"ARGH! HEY! GIVE US A WARNING NEXT TIME!" he yelled. I picked myself up and the small sword that Dances gave to me. I sighed in disappointment. I didn't know I had to prove myself to be deemed worthy of being a warrior. I guess... I shouldn't expect this trial to be easy either.
So, Anon and I decided to stick together and train in the city of Perion. Each day was a new boiling task for us. I am sure Dances with Balrog talked with everyone because everyone we talked to needed something from us. A native girl with orange hair wanted us to gather twigs from live wood. It was a hilarious event. We gathered them, but not after we had splinters from then dozens of live trees that came to attack us. Another native needed some help handling the trees with axes on their tops attacking them. We kinda figured the guy was cutting down trees, and they attacked him. We went around hacking those monsters down to size, but again we came home with splinters all over our bodies. You might as well call us cactus because we were pointy all over the place with wood pieces sticking out of our clothes. Day after day, we were trying to help the towns people. From getting smacked by these strange creatures with wooden masks, to a hoard of boars chasing us after we pulled the tusks from baby boars. Yeah, it was low, but we needed them for one guy who wanted to make a fashionable necklace.
A week passed by, and both Anon and I were tired from our training. However, it wasn't all comically bad, the native girl that we helped earlier gave us some food to eat as gratitude. We were happy, and stuffed ourselves with whatever food she gave us. It wasn't the best food, but it was better than dealing with hunger. When our bellies were full, we were invited to sleep in a nice stone like in that night. Anon and I noticed that the towns people were starting to trust us. However, the bed was rock, literally. It was a stone bed with sheets on it, but I can't complain. I laid down on it and gave a great sigh of relief. Anon sat on his stone bed looking at me.
"So, Zevan! Do you think you are ready to take on Dances with Balrog?" he asked me with a serious tone. I tilted my head to the side to look at his face. However, I was slight squirming to get comfortable on this hard rock bed.
"Do you think we got a lot of recommendations from the towns people?" I asked. He nodded slowly up and down, then he plot himself oh his own stone bed and looked up at the roof. I was about to call it a night til I heard Anon moaning. Then, he finally sat up again.
"Dang! This thing is hard as a rock."
"Dude it is a rock!" I stated. "Look we been through tough times sleeping outside for the past week. I think you can handle a stonie bed for one night." I said in agitation. Anon gave a chuckle and tried to lay down on his bed again. The room was quiet, so quiet that I was starting to close my eyes. However, it wasn't long til I had to jolt awake from Anon talking.
"Hey Zevan! How was it like when you left maple island?" he asked.
I gave out a long sigh. I almost didn't want to answer his question, but I needed to get this heavy feeling off my chest.
"Well, when I first materialized into this world, everyone avoided me. I tried to make small talk with everyone, but it was no avail. They would give me this scruffy look when they saw my maple leaf." I started.
"You're maple leaf? Why did they dislike about your leaf?" he asked. I as almost hesitant to show him. Then, I let out a groan as I had to get up and find the leaf in my pocket. I didn't mind. If this will be the final test that he would hate me after seeing it, at least I know our friendship wasn't even real. So, I pulled the leaf out of my pocket and showed it to him. It was a red maple leaf, but instead of being bright solid red, it had a few spots on it. I didn't know why, but this particular leaf drove everyone away from me. I held it up to him expecting him to do the same.
To my surprise, he didn't give me a scowled look of hate or distrust. He was quite confused and actually shocked to see my leaf. I stared at the leaf with those hazel glowing eyes and his mouth wide open. Soon, I saw Anon jolting up unexpectedly and tried to search for something in his pocket. Then, he finally pulled out his leaf. I was i shock. I looked at his leaf and noticed his leaf also had spots on it.
"This leaf was the reason why I was here on Perion alone all the time. I lost the will to take on a job because I received harsh tongues from other humans in this area that were also training to be warriors."
"You're nothing but trouble!" he said in a mimicking voice.
"You'll just be a burden to everyone. No one wants a spotted leaf like you." he continued. I got up and realized that Anon really had rough time here. He lost his will to get any better and ended up sitting under that tree with low determination. "I wonder what would have happened if I didn't come?" I pondered on the thought. As smile started to form from his face with joy that he was not the only guy with a spotted maple leaf. "What does this mean though?" he asked with curiosity. "We experienced the same issues when we came to this world. It's like we are the black sheep in the flock." he said. I was shocked of his comparison. To be honest, that what it exactly felt like. We are for some reason the black sheep of this world. No one wants even look our way when we came to this world. No one wants to lend us help when we are in trouble. It was like we are for some reason placed on this world to be something the other humans despised.
Act 1 Complete!
While we sat down and eat, I noticed that Anon looked different. I guess this past week of training made him stronger because when I first met him, he was pretty much frail like me. After eating half of my boar bacon and bread, I said, "He Anon! You seem to be getting stronger." I pointed at his arms that are slightly bulging out. He got up and started to flex his muscles.
"You're right! I have gotten stronger. And if I am not mistaken, so did you." he stated. I shrugged and continued eating my sandwich. "I bet if we get another swing at Dances, he would think twice for pinning me down like before."
"Or it will be your face planted on the ground again. Dances looks like a guy who seen a lot of things and only knows battle. I saw it in his eyes when we first met him." I informed him. Anon laughed at my statement and looked out the window with determination.
"Watch out Dances! You're about to face the real me." He said with the sun ray behind him. It took all my energy to not choke on my food with laughter. Anon knows how to make a show, but everyone just looked at him strangely after his affirmation to go after Dances. When I finally finished my meal, I grabbed my training sword and walked outside. I don't really had much on me anyway, and it was a drag wearing the same clothes everyday. I did wash them during the week of training, but I got tired of Anon ambushing me with towel whips while I washed. When I cleaned up my plate and left the building, Anon was behind me ready to head to the Stone Temple again.
Unlike before, the doors was easier for us to swing open this time. We went through the hall of towering statues of warriors. And again, we are before Dances with Balrog.
He got up from his chair and walked towards us. This time he was happy to see us.
"I heard from the towns people you worked really hard to help them out. I also see the your physique has improved as well." he stated as he observed us from front to back. "I believe you two will make fine warriors." he sat down and picked up his might ax. It must be an enchanted ax because last time it blew us out of the building. However, it was not the case. With his ax, it started glowing, and around us was a beam of light. I never felt this kind of light before. It was surging us with energy, but at the same time, it was very calm. Unfortunately, our glow became dim. Then, it was surprisingly dark around us. Me and Anon realized this and stepped back from the dark energy. It faded away like a shadow.
"What was that...." I panted in panic the glow was gone, and a cold chill went down my spine. I looked at Anon, and he was feeling the same way. Dances was concerned and approached us with urgency. He spoke so fast that I had to hear him a second time for it to register.
"Did you guys make any contracts or deals with anyone lately during your training?" he repeatedly asked us four times I believe. We both tried to shake our heads no. Dances was confused, but while I was panting, he noticed my maple leaf fell out of my pocket during the process of promoting us as warriors. "What is this?" he asked. I froze for a moment. Dances now realized that my leaf is spotted.
"Zevan!" Anon yelled weakly. He was still trying to grasp for air after that traumatic experience. I on the other hand was in trouble. Dances discovered that my leaf was spotted. What is he going to do to me. Will he deny my advancement to become a warrior? Dances observed the spots on the leaves and gave the leaf back to me without a word. I was somehow confused again. Dances turned his back towards me and Anon, and said out loud in a serious tone.
"You guys were cursed." he stated.
"What can we do?" Anon asked in bewilderment. "What did we even do to be cursed like this it's not fair." he said angrily. Dances raised his hand to quiet down Anon. I know how he felt. We trained really hard, gained the townsfolk approval only to realize there is still another bump in the road for us. He finally turned around and spoke.
"I am cannot give you to a solid answer. However, I do know one who can. Grendel! He might have books on the subject of your curse. Maybe to reverse or cleanse your bodies or maple leaf of this awful curse. As long as this dark force is in the way, I cannot grant you the skills of a warrior."
We were both speechless. We wanted to know so badly why? But it seems it's true about the warrior race. They are built on bronze not brains.
"How do we get to Grendel?" I asked. Dances went and grabbed a roll of parchments from the many he had in a certain stone box. He unrolled it to us and showed us the place we should go next. It was a place like fantasy. The next destination was Ellina. Dances rolled up the paper and spoke to us with urgency.
"Tell Grendel that I sent you two. Explain to him your situation. If you are successful, I should be able to make you warriors just like I did with other humans with no interruption of a curse."
"And if we do fail?" Anon asked. Dances didn't answer him. It was obvious that are fate would be to stay as we are forever regardless of our training. The silence in the temple was unnerving. We are the only ones that can break our own curse and our next destination is a place we never been to.
"Maybe this is a chance to get to know more of this strange world. All this time we only knew about Perion. There are 4 other places we can explore and maybe this is our chance to show this world that we don't deserve to be cursed." I said boldly for once. I never knew I had it in me. I wanted to relieve Anon's doubts because when I first met him on Perion, he would be the same undetermined newbie. I didn't want that spark in him to die. Soon, Dances had a smile on his face after my speech.
"That's a way a warrior would think." he continued. "A warrior needs to know more about his surrounding and not only depend on one area to train. You must explore other places and see if there is a way to undo your curse. It is not determined yet that you failed. Your quest is only beginning." he finished. We both looked at each other in amazement. He was right. Our journey is just beginning, and to find the answer, we must go outside of Perion and find Grendel the wise.
When it was dusk again, we both retreated from the temple and head back to the inn. It wasn't very fun being on those stone beds again, but we were both in deep thought about our next journey.
"Zevan! We are still newbies and we are exploring a new area without special skills or powers. Are you sure you are up for this?" he whispered.
"I had to. We already did so much to get this far." I continued and looked out the window in our room. The sky was dark and dusty, but you can still see a few stars shinning through it. " Anon! I really want you by my side on this journey. We are both for some reason in the same boat." I admitted. I looked over to the bed where Anon was sleeping. At first, I couldn't see his face in the darkness, but I noticed that his eyes looked glossy. Maybe, they were starting to water. Is he crying? "Dude are you okay?" I asked.
"I am.... sniff... I never thought I was ever going to be needed here. Cause I knew I wasn't alone on this. I really needed you. I was afraid you are going to part ways from me. We didn't even establish if we are friends." he sobbed. I paused for a minute and realized he was right. We've been training together for the time we spent in Perion, and I hadn't verified if we were friends or not.
I let out a big sigh of relief. "Of course Anon. We are friends. Why not? We are both in this together. Might as well try to get out of it together." I stated and finally looked at the ceiling of the room. I heard Anon scrambling on his bed. I bet he was trying to wipe the tears from his eyes. I guess at this moment we did need each other on this big challenge.
When dawn broke, Anon and I went to get our swords and gathered some supplies around Perion. When we were ready, we went into the desert of Perion and waved good bye to all the good citizens there. "These guys were great." I said happily.
"Yeah, but they made us work all those chores for them. I think a different scenery would be nice for the both of us." he said. H was in a good mood. We were hydrated, full, and probably had a sack filled with money in our pockets after doing all the hard work. While we were walking in the desert, we noticed one of the boars was squealing at us. We both looked over at the boar that was far away from us on the side.
"Hey! Look at that!" I pointed out. Doesn't that boar looked familiar." I stated.
"I don't know... I never seen that boar before." Anon replied. Suddenly, we saw a smaller boar came out from the bigger boar. Then, we froze in our foot tracks. The baby boar had missing tusks. And started squealing frantically at the bigger one. We both gulped hard when the bigger boar squealed, and more boars came behind it.
"RUN!!!" I yelled. We saw a hoard of boars charging after us along with the smaller boars with missing teeth.
"I knew we shouldn't have done that quest!" I complained huffing while running with all my strength.
"But that guy paid us well for those boar teeth." Anon stated while we jumped over rocks and twigs and across the desert. It was like a never ending parade of boars running after us. We tried to loose them, but it was no use. We tried saw a ledge, and before it was a floating rock we never seen before.
"We have to jump."
"What? Are you crazy? We won't make it!" Anon huffed as the mini boars tried to catch up to us.
"It's now or never!" I replied. When we approached the ledge, we both took a leap of faith towards the floating rock. We felt the wind under our feet as we jumped, but we missed the ledge by only an inch and fell down the cliff. We made a hard landing to the ground. Aching and in pain, the boars above us did not follow. They squealed and snorted at us at the top of the cliff and finally disappeared. I tried to pick myself up first, but my him was in great pain. I had to grab a stick to help me walk.
"Hey Anon! Are.... you okay?" I staggered to say while I was trying to hold myself up.
"Ech.... yeah! I think I am fine..." he struggled to speak while trying to pick himself up. "Stupid boars. Next time, we will hunt all of them down." he stamped around angrily on the ground making the dust blow in the wind. Suddenly, we heard chuckles of laughter in the distance.
"What was that?" I asked Anon. We looked around the bottom of the cliff, but no one was around us.
"I don't know, but we better keep moving. That boar run was a set back to our journey. " He stated, but when we looked before us, we noticed we were exactly where we were suppose to be. Right before us was tress. Not the dried desert trees you see in the desert, but actually green living trees that sparkle and with glittering leaves.
"Is this the place?" Anon asked. I pulled out the map and realized it looked similar to the map.
"Yes, it seems we've reached the entry way to Ellina." We stood in amazement of the place before us.