In a forest to the west of Asfáleia, a pack of wolves were resting. Except these were not ordinary wolves. They had pure white fur and were about as large as a cow, with blue chains wrapped around their torsos. They had one normal eye, and one that looked like it was made of blue energy, with a black cornea and blue pupil. One yawned showing its jet black teeth, which if one was bitten by would lead to severe poisoning and could easily rip through iron. These were Direwolves. Five of them.
Suddenly the one that yawned was struck in the head by an arrow. It died slowly, howling in pain. The others instantly ran towards the direction where the arrow had come from. Another arrow was fired from their right, hitting and injuring the leg of the Direwolf at the front. The others were confused. Then a third arrow from the east hit the skull of a Direwolf. The remaining two were on guard. A fourth arrow was fired but it was caught and broken in the jaws of a Direwolf with a claw scar on its eye. It was angry.
"Tsk...Well I guess we can't have expected that to work. NOW!!!!!" shouted a boy. His body had materialised out of nowhere and he was accompanied by four others, who jumped came from all sides. The boy that had come out from nowhere had used his dagger to kill a Direwolf, leaving only the scarred Direwolf. It growled at the children, and its normal eye turned a bright blue. The boy that seemed to dissappear suddenly jumped backwards, visibly sweating. "It's using its mental effect." the boy said. The demon lunged at him with terrifying speed, only to be slammed away by a small metal knight. "Not so fast." the knight said, laughing as he finished.
The chains around the Direwolf's torso released themselves and acted like tentacles, and begun a attack on the knight. The Direwolf itself was on its way to attack a young girl. "Feral Claw." the girl said quietly, unleashing a fury of blows and knees to the creature's head. She then gave it an uppercut, and kicked it over to a boy with red hair wielding a sword and a tall slim child also equipped with one. The pair ran to its rolling body and slashed it together, severing the head and the torso. Its chains stopped moving and disappeared.
"Good job you guys. Ive finshed off the injured one so rest well. Direwolves...their exterminations always pay well. I guess its the fur." said Morte, while skinning the now dead demons. "Their meat is good too, so I can see why they sell so well." said May, who joined him, skinning faster than her counterpart.
"We should move on to the next one....even if it is a boring old fumigation...damn floating eyes." said Gars, cleaning his blade. "...I'm taking that one's coat at least." said May, pointing at the scarred Direwolf's corpse. "Fine."
The squad finished up and began to walk towards their next destination, May adorned with a Direwolf cape...well a Direwolf's body worn as a cape. They arrived at an old house with a few chips here and there. They entered and were immediately greeted by a horde of floating eyeballs. "Lets do this!" shouted Rei, the others not far behind.
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"This is concering." said an old man with a long white beard, and a black wizard's gown. His face was fairly wrinkled, and his eyes were an odd color, purple. His skin was a light cream and his height average.
He was seated in a marble styled war room with three others, along with a group of 16 robed individuals behind him. In front of him was a giant table, with a crystal ball the size of a drawer showing the events that occured in Paix. "It has already destroyed 2 minor cities..."
"What do you think. Is it one of the sixteen?" asked a woman in her thirties.
She wore a beautiful slik gown with golden patterns and dazzling crystal jewellery hung from her neck. She had white hair and a beautiful face which adirned her fair cream skin. Although there were several oddities. One was that she was three meters tall. Two, was that beside her was a jade club. And three, was the fact that she had one eye.
"No it isn't...No.10, Titan hasn't moved. Its either a huge one eyed demon, or...a new two eyed." said a man wearing emerald armor and a green cape, with lime hair and long ears he had a tan complexion, and was taller than the wizard but failed miserably to the woman. He had a sword by his side, that read 'Damacles'.
"Indeed. The creature...Do you think it may be No. 1?" asked the old man.
"No Sofóz. The legends depict No.1 as the size of an average man. We have tabs on 2 to 16, so the creature that we're dealing with...is a one eye that bigger than Hydra." said a short stout man with a black beard, wearing iron armor and a thick cape. His cream skin was almost completed covered by his hair though. He had a crown made of silver, with red rubies decorating it.
"That would be disturbing, and considering that advanced magic it's using...I'm not sure if it's even magic anymore....it's composition is of the natural realm, but its effect is beyond anything I've seen in my studies." said Sofóz.
"I've noticed something odd." said the man with long ears. "Wherever it goes...the clouds disappear and form a circle around it."
"But that's only when it stops...and it does stop every few days...I wonder why? Does it need to rest, because I have yet to see it eat." said Sofóz. "If it doesn't, then are you sure it isn't just a giant spirit-type demon?" asked the one eyed woman.
"No it isn't...The footprints it leaves behind are proof enough of that." said the short man.
"Either way we have to prepare. Send an alert to Asfáleia that this demon will arrivebin 20 days. Tell them about its mysterious fog and dispatch some troops. Evacuate every civilian...And I guess I'll send one of my disciples." said Sofóz. "May the forces of humans, cyclops, dwarves and elves stay forever united."
The others repeated this chant and the meeting was concluded. In the corner of the room, a knight with full black armor could be seen. The armor had patches made of leather and the helmet was obviously damaged by a monsters claw. "Dragã....I hope he survives this."
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"Well...that got messy." said Morte as they headed to their outpost, carrying a small purse made out of imp skin. "It's times like these that I'm happy I wear full plate armor." said Pierre. The group had finished their fumigation request but were covered in blood.
"This won't wash out easy...Damn you Pierre." said Gars as he envied the fact that Pierre's armor barely had any cloth, so just needed to be wiped. "At least we completed it. Besides tomorrow is Vener Worship day. We'll be free to wash them." said Rei, who was trying to cover up the situation. "Something's happening." said May as they reached their outpost.
They saw other Vanguards aligned on the training grounds, and a stage had been erected. "Lâche! What's happening!" shouted Morte. A boy with blonde hair wearing the armor as Morte stopped. He was around the size of Pierre and had a tan complextion. "They're making an annocement." he said and continued running.
The squad decided to follow him. They arrived at the training grounds and lined themselves up. In this assembly, official full grown Vanguards had their space, and Vanguards-in-training had theirs. The knight from orientation came up to the stage.
"Vanguards of Asfáleia! I am Sir Âme Dure. And I come with distressing news!"