I got a lot of good responses when i showed this to friends and teachers. Enjoy!
The Line: Re-Awakening Part one of the Third Trilogy.
BY Nick Neuhoff
Chapter 0
The Graken War and Story of the Last Chosen
As the races of Chelan know, Chelan is a large island located in the middle of the endless sea. The only landform close to Chelan is the much smaller Pire Island, but no one lives there anymore. As the other races know, Chelan is divided into five nations; the Kingdom of Chelan, the largest country to the south ruled by the humans, the Chelan forest or Elven forest which is near the Graken peninsula, ruled by the Elves, the Dwarven mountain range which extended from the Northern tip of Chelan to the lowest part, Lyontic country or Caracal located on the east, and the Gnomish country of Ccion in the southeast. But during the end of the Second age of Chelan a new country emerged, Graken. Graken is located on present day Graken peninsula which is north of everything. The country was ruled by the human necromancer Garak who was banished from Chelan to live the rest of his life on charges of treason. After painstaking research he found a way to make himself as powerful as a god. The only thing he couldn’t do was make himself immortal, only true gods can be immortal. This would prove to be his fatal flaw. Garak using his powers rallied the nomadic orcs living in the Graken peninsula and unified the peninsula in no time. Garak wasn’t satisfied, he wanted the entire Chelan, and he spent 30 years making his army for conquest. He sent his army to bring down the elves first, because he believed they would be the easiest to conquer and the elves pride and vanity would cause them not to ask for help from the other contries, he was wrong. The rest of Chelan wasn’t going to let Garak take over especially after the pre-emptive strike against the elves. So all the countries (the humans joined a little later than everyone else) declared war on Graken, thus began the third age of Chelan, the Graken war.
The Chosen’s are people who are put on earth by the gods to keep the peace. After the Chosen dies, the Chosen title and powers are pasted on to the offspring of the old Chosen. All of the Chosens are humans which causes some jealousy between the other races. Naturally, during the Graken war the Chosen fought against the orcish army, giving the orcs a hard time. To add insult to injury for Graken, the Chosen appointed 4 Paladins to fight by his side Garak used his god like powers to lure all of the Paladins into a trap and turned them into his ultimate servants. This was known as the Chosen Betrayal. Having four ex-paladins on Graken’s side, they helped Garak push the allied armies back to the human capital Emei. During the siege, Garak challenged the last Chosen to battle. In the end, the Chosen sacrificed himself to seal Garak in a space between dimensions. Without their beloved King and General, Graken’s army fell and peace was restored. But a permanent scar was left on the people of Chelan, because the Chosen had no offspring, the line of the Chosen, ended and the third age began.
-Book of Chelan
Section 6 Chapter 19
Chapter 1
Chelan Forest
The Chelan forest, the last place to be on that night or at least that is what she told me. It was in the middle of the night, she guessed, around 12 o’clock or so the time when the great and terrible creatures that haunt these woods are most active. But tonight was different, there was an eerie chill going through the air and all the creatures apparently felt it. But instead of yelping or growling which is what the creatures of the forest usually do when it is cold, not a creatures stirred not even a giant mouse. However, in the deepest part of the forest, a small company of Elves tried to make there way though the dangerous forest. Elves are quite different from humans. For one thing, their average height is about 5 feet 4 inches. Plus they were the fairest of all creatures (it isn’t that hard to see why) and they have a strong sense of justice and had very few criminals in their society. But what really separated them from us (the humans) was that they still used magic. This was the third age of Chelan which started after the end of the age of Magic followed by the defeat of Graken army and Garak during the Graken War. Both of which were 200 years ago, but we all know that. Ever since, and they still do, the humans used steam power, built steel war machines, and had up to date modern medicine using herbs and other methods. For the humans, magic was obsolete. The Elves then and still do think otherwise, they think magic has many practical uses that are better than our guns and war machines that cough out black smoke is barbaric and unhealthy for their country. Our industrial revolution might be why ever since the Graken War, no human has seen the Elves at this point in time or at least that is what we thought. Anyway, there were five Elves, or at least that is what she told me, four of which were men who rode black war horses and carried swords and shields. They were escorting an Elven girl who rode in the middle of these men on a white pony. She had a hood pulled over her face to hide her facial features but she was unarmed and was carrying an object wrapped in a blanket. They walked as quietly as possible hoping not to disturb the creatures of the forest. As they stepped into a clearing an arrow whizzed by the party and hit the Elf in the front in the chest killing him instantly. Then about twelve orcs burst out of the bushes carrying war axes, she said their might have been more but she was frightened. The Elves in the back and the front tried to defend the girl but they failed. The girl and the final Elven warrior rode away as fast as their horses could take them.
After a while they stopped. Then the Elf man spoke “I think we lost them.” As if on cue, a black dragon swooped down and picked the man off horse and all. The dragon’s sharp claws impaled the man killing him. The girl took off behind her was the black dragon following her wings in full motion. She galloped past tree after tree dodging each one that came her way. A sound of an arrow flew through the air and hit her pony in the back of the left thigh. The pony toppled over and threw the girl across the forest floor. Also, the object she is carrying got thrown off the horse as well and fell thirty feet from where the pony fell. She got up, okay, but a little dazed. Then five feet away from where she stopped rolling, the black dragon landed on the ground and a man dressed in all black full armor and a black helmet that hid his facial features jumped off its back. The black armor was normal full armor but the helmet was very distinguishing because it had long devil like horns protruding out the back side and the only holes in the helmet were for the eyes and the mouth. Because the helmets hide most of the man’s facial features, the elf couldn’t make out who the man was but she did know what he was. He was a blackguard; a fallen paladin now corrupted and has turned evil. He walked towards the girl who looked up at him in utter disbelief. When he got close enough he reached down and picked up the girl by the neck with his pure black gauntlets. He lifted the frightened girl off the ground and brought her close to his black helmet so she could see his pure red eyes though the eye hole of his helmet. Then he lifted her higher and then threw her at a tree. Her back smacked against the tree and she lost her breath and hit the ground hard. She laid there and watched as the blackguard walked closer to her. The blackguard unsheathed his long black greatsword and brought it hilt side up over his head pointing the blade at the girl’s head. Thinking fast the elf grabbed the blackguard’s leg and whispered “Rinup Lam” the hand she grabbed the blackguards leg with began to glow. The area she touched turned white hot and the blackguard screamed and dropped his sword. Taking advantage of the opportunity, she grabbed the object on the ground and whispered again “Echeped” and in a flash of lighting, she was gone. The blackguard screamed and cursed at the girl even though she was long gone. Actually, she was right behind the bushes of the scene, watching the events unfold. Then a few minutes after, the orcs which instead of twelve now after the ambush, only had ten in their party. Two of them were carrying one of the elf men who somehow managed to survive the ordeal. He had an arrow in his chest and back. He was gasping for air, it was obvious he was about to die. The elf girl quietly gasped at sight of her injured comrade.
“Master” one orc said “we lost two of our own but managed to capture one of them.” The orc looked around as if looking for the girl “so” the orc finally said “where is the girl?” The blackguard spun around sword at hand and in a blind fury cut off the unlucky orc’s head. The head fell to the ground spitting black blood from the neck. The body fell on its back and began to pour blood. The girl turned away in disgust, but then regained her breath and peered back through the bushes. The orcs looked at the body and then back at the blackguard.
“Any other stupid questions” the blackguard said addressing the rest of the orcs. The orcs looked again at their fallen comrade and shook their heads in unison “good” the blackguard said “see you back at the capital.”
“What of the captured elf?” one of the orcs who was holding the half-dead elf said. The blackguard pointed a finger at the elf and black smoke poured out of the elf’s mouth and nose and went into the blackguard’s finger. The elf’s skin became tighter and tighter on its bones until all that was left was bones. The orc jumped back and let the elf’s skeleton collapse into a heap on the ground. The girl gasped again. “What survivor?” the blackguard said as he climbed on his dragon and took to the air. Soon after the orcs left towards the northwest and the girl took off with the package in her hand.
Chapter 2
The Necklace
(Perspective Change)
“Ambushed you say?”
“Yes, it would seem so.”
“How do you know this?’
“I just know these things.”
“By Diaa, It can’t be.”
“I’m afraid so”
“Where is she? Does she still have it?”
“Patience my king, it will all be revealed soon enough.”
(Back to my perspective)
My name is Leon, I don’t know you but you know me. I don’t have a last name as far as I can tell. I don’t remember even having parents. The town I grew up in, Besc, was nice enough to give me all the things I needed to live, house, schooling, food etc. However they gave me this stuff after living five years on the streets and someone pointed me out. Other than him, no one would touch me. I guess that is because a town rumor went around that I was found by hunters with a pack of Grey wolves. I hope it is true because then I would have an excuse for my wild behavior. After grade school, I learned how to track and identify creatures from the town’s biologist and swordplay from the elder warrior of Besc. After mastering these techniques I left the town as a ranger. For two years after then I worked as a bounty hunter until I found my long time friend Evan and his girlfriend. Thus the team of mercenaries was born. I carried two handguns and a bastard sword.
Evan Hazen was my best friend since grade school. Evan has black hair, blue eyes and wore a hooded black cloak that concealed his daggers. After we graduated, he moved to the capital of Chelan, Emei and became assassin who worked for the League of Assassins but was kicked out for not being able to assassinate a mob boss’s daughter and instead of even trying to kill her; he instead saved her from the other League of Assassin members. See the thing is, Evan had a soft spot for girls, especially hot ones. Evan, as soon as he looked down the scope of his sniper that was zoomed on her head, she fell in love with her (weird eh?) Evan carries three weapons, two daggers, and a sniper Rifle.
Natasha Spindle was none other that the mob boss’s daughter. When Evan saved her, she fell in love with him too (I don’t think Evan ever told her that he tried to kill her) She was a Valkyrie (which, for those illiterates who don’t know what one is, a Valkyrie is a woman mage who uses staves and light magic.) She was a short, blonde hair, blue eyed girl who learned light magic to try to redeem her bloodline for all the things they done. She only hopes to benefit mankind instead of benefit from it. She was one of the few humans who actually still used magic (other than few healers.) She uses a staff of healing and a book of light magic. Yes she me have sound hot but the only thing is, she is a pain in the ass. She had a real knack at pissing me off. How come is it girlfriends of friends always piss you off?
The only reason we entered the Chelan forest was to take a shortcut from Alsod to Ide. Ide was a small farming community with little in the way of defenses from the violent creatures of the Chelan Forest. So the town council frequently called upon mercenaries, bounty hunters, or whoever to help them fend off the wild creatures. Two months ago we were called upon to fend off a pack of gnolls (humanoid like creatures that resembles wolves. They stand upright and carry weapons. They are a cousin of the Were-wolf and the Lyontic people.) We were desperate for some coin so Evan suggested that we go to Ide to ask if they needed help. They are pretty hopeless if you ask me, still are. Although gnolls are dangerous and attack in large numbers, they are all teeth but no brains. We were walking in the deepest part of the woods when we came upon a not so pretty scene. Arrows stuck in the ground, two orc corpses, and footprints. Upon seeing this, I ran to the corpses and searched the bodies. Flies were all over the place and the smell was so bad. It smelled poop with a cleaning solvent sprayed on it to try to make it smell better.
“Smells like crap!” Natasha said when she walked into the clearing. Orcs are not known to carry their money with them but I managed to find 36 gold pieces. It began to wonder why orcs would come out this far into Chelan. They rarely left Graken anymore at this point. While I was thinking, Evan and Natasha went over to look at the giant footprint.
“Hey Leon,” Evan called to me “Get over here and tell me what you think”
I ran over to him and looked at the foot print. The footprints were about 5 feet long and 3 feet long in width. The creature that made the footprint had three claw prints and at the end of the toes a hole was dug out in the ground. The feet prints had rings going from the center and moved out as they got bigger.
“A black dragon, about age 640…”
“How in hell’s name do you know that?” Natasha interrupted. She did that, a lot and it pissed me off.
“See the rings in the ground of the footprints” I said pointing to the rings holding in my disgust “they are much like trees, as they get older the rings get more and more rings. This one seems to have about 640 rings so we can assume it was 640 years old.” I told them. It was a wordy answer so they gave me that blank look that says “What the hell?”
“Anyway for you intellectuals, I know that is a black dragon because the black dragon is the only dragon that has 3 toes not counting the big one on the back of their feet. They don’t usually come this far away from swamplands. Strange.” I said once again being wordy. They didn’t hesitate to say it, “WHAT THE HELL?” Evan and Natasha said simultaneously. God they were annoying.
“The point I’m trying to make is that black dragons never come this far except if they are a mount for someone.” I said, and pointed at another foot print about the size of and average human’s foot with a toe that was dug into the ground “in this case, a blackguard.”
Both of them jumped up with weapons in hand
“God, we shouldn’t have come here” Evan said quietly “let’s go!”
“Oh don’t worry. The tracks are well over three days old. He and the orcs are long gone.”
“Orcs” Natasha asked “there were orcs?”
I just pointed to the two corpses.
“Oh” she said.
“Anyway, Evan is right let’s get out of here,” I said “But wait”
Something caught my eye. A skeleton, from were I was standing it looked like a normal human’s, but as I went closer the skeleton was much smaller only 5’ 2” and it had a distinguishing feat. It had wider eye holes and pointed cartilage ears (which was an amazing find, cartilage is usually long lost before anyone finds the skeleton. It must have been killed really recent.) The others followed behind me.
“What” Evan asked “what is it?”
I was shocked; it took me about 10 seconds to tell him what it was
“An Elf” I said really quietly
“What?”
“An Elf”
“No…Freaking…Way”
There was a long period of silence. Only he birds, the bees and the bears could be heard.
“So how long has it been since anyone saw an elf again,” Natasha asked. This was weird because most Valkyrie studies ancient history and art in addition to magic. Because she didn’t know how many years it’s been since a human saw an elf in. It told me she did more making out with Evan more than study her history. This junk we learned in grade school.
“Humans have never seen an elf since the Graken War. Do you want to know how long that was ago dummy? Two-hundred years ago.” I couldn’t resist insulting her. Hey, Evan may have liked her but that doesn’t mean I had to. The only reason Natasha hadn’t killed me yet is because Evan is my best friend. If it was just me and her, I would have been beaten down and buried in some Ore desert by now.
Natasha started “Kiss my…”
“But” I said looking back at the bones “see how the bones are picked dry with no bite marks at all not even a piece of meat still attached? It suggests some magic was used to kill him in this case a life draining spell.”
Evan turned to Natasha “Well can’t you find out what spell it was?”
“Yes I could” she said “What a great idea honey.” She puckered he lips and kissed Evan on the lips. I hate girlfriends who take EVERY FREAKIN’ opportunity to make out with their boyfriend. They do this even though the boy may not want to.
She bent down and picked up a bone, a femur if you must be specific and held it to her nose and sniffed it. Now there are other less dangerous methods of finding out what spell was used but she did the dangerous one. Sniffing a substance that had a spell cast on is a smart idea if the spell isn’t a killing spell…more proof that Natasha had spent more time hitting on Evan in her bed than hitting the books. Anyway she exhaled black smoke and began to cough long and hard.
“You ok?” Evan asked.
“Yah, I’m...cough!” She coughed up blood. See, very dangerous to sniff a substance that was killed with a death spell. Evan rushed to her side as she fainted.
“Oh, dammit, she is out cold we got to find a town.” Evan said to me
“The closest town is a two hour hike.” I told him.
“Crap, will she make it?”
“I don’t know, I’m not a healer” I said. The dumb girl, she should have read more books.
“Well,” I said “we better get going.” Evan nodded and piggy backed Natasha which must be very uncomfortable because his sniper is probably digging into his back. As I brought up Evan’s rear something shiny in the mud caught my eye. I bent down and picked it up. It was a necklace. The chain was made of fine gold and on the end was a symbol of some sort. It looked like a tree with its roots. Upon looking at this my head felt light headed and an image projected in my head. It was of an Elven girl with a veil over her face opened her mouth and said “You are the one.” I could feel someone grabbed me by the shoulder.
“Leon, Lets go.” I awoke I guess you could say. I looked around, looking for the girl.
“Ok,” I said to Evan seeing my search was in vain “Let’s go.” I put the necklace in my pocket and followed Evan.
