Four Hundred Years Ago...
Day Of The Kings Death...
A Battle Stands Before us... One that determines everything... One that sets so much in motion. One that brings an end to the age of Dragons.
The sounds of metal on metal could be heard within the night air the clashing swords slamming together.
In a single flash the two men separated the sparks flying off of their blades as their weapons came undone. The two men stood at the edge of what looked like a massive metal ship that was surrounded by ice. The image of a large tree, as well as a massive winged creature rested in the background. Both of the men were covered by a dark shadow keeping their appearance hidden. The moon simply not casting enough light for either of them to be seen.
"Well..." One of them said calmly. His hand twitched lightly as he held his sword up. It didn't look practical. More fancy then a normal blade. Formed from a stainless steel the blade was short and thin. A circle connecting it to the handle. A faint Golden light seemed to twist out of the mans body forming the image of what looked like a dragon. "Let's finish this..."
"Sure... About time I suppose..." The second man said a sigh escaping his lips. His sword was more simple. The only thing strange about it being that the blade and the handle was formed from a pitch black metal as well as a purple fleshy eyeball that rested in the hilt of the sword the iris looking around.
"Then... It's time the Knights of the Round Table make their last stand. Today you fall Traitorous Knight."
***
Age 1991...
Earth World...
The Kingdom Of Avalon...
The streets of Dianthus were filled with people all walking about seemingly trying to get out of the cold weather as the snow poured down. Several obviously homeless people had ducked down and were using the alleyways or tiles of the house as shelter. On the road several horse drawn carriages could be seen...
Dianthus unlike the many other cities wasn't that grand in its design. It was more... Old fashioned... It's buildings were all small, simple tiled roofs, with stone brick houses. Long stone woods which horses and wheel barrels would march down.
"What a terrible day for rain..."
"Sir... Its snowing... Not raining."
On the outskirts of the village a small carriage pulled by a scale covered bear could be seen. Standing on the carriage was a cloaked man. "Ah. So it is." Davi announced hugging his cloak around his body tighter. He threw a few golden bells, the currency of the Nation, to the carriage driver as he stepped off. Much of his body remained unseen. He wore a long brown cloak with the hood up hiding most of his body from sight. What little of his skin could be seen was pale. Davi looked around for a moment before he nodded his head and stepped off of the train.
His eyes gazed upward finding a butterfly made of blue light floating above an old tavern. Seemingly satisfied with what he saw the boy began to walk... His eyes took in the sorry state of the village. "Pretty bad huh?" Davi asked allowed.
"Hey pal what are you looking at?" Someone on the side of the road snapped at him.
Davi didn't answer turning to look at the man. Finally he turned away and entered a nearby tavern.
'Thud!'
Davi felt a force crash into him as soon as he stepped in, suddenly and out of nowhere, as if someone had been waiting on him. He crashed back landing flat on his back from the force. Letting out a small groan he looked up and found a young girl was sitting on his stomach now. She was small. Only thirteen, maybe fourteen tops. And she had dirty brown hair and a simple brown tunic that didn't cover much.
A slave?
The girl grabbed onto him letting out a small whimper her eyes staring at him pleadingly.
"Hey buddy. Thanks for stopping her. We looked away for a second and she took off running. Blasted Slaves. Didn't get the proper control collars yet." A man stated sitting back in a chair. Davi took note of him for a moment. There were several of them. At least a dozen or so men. They looked like bandits. All taking a break in this small tavern. "You can let go of her now. You are going to hand her back to us aren't you..."
Davi looked down at the girl then up at the men. Everyone else in the tavern seemed to be slouching down or backing away. None of them looked like they wanted to get involved in the situation.
One of the group of bandits sighed. "Don't tell me you're one of those hero types." They asked slowly reaching down to the sword. "Listen pal. We paid good money for that brat. She's a native of Alnwick. You know an outsider to our Kingdom. She'd be as good as dead on her own. Honestly we're doing her good by giving her home and a job. So I'll tell you this. She's coming with us no matter what. Now rather you end up dead... Thats for you to decide."
"No." Davi shook his head moving the girl off of him and making her hopeful look shatter away. "I don't want to get involved in this. He might though."
"Hmm?"
Davi gestured behind him and casually moved out of the way as a large hulking man walked in. He held a large wood cutters axe over his shoulder and his body was forged from muscles. He stood taller then anyone in the tavern and the sight of such a man made everyone instantly go silent.
"Bandits huh." The man questioned gazing at the group of men who no longer looked as confident. "I remember when you guys used to be the only things we had to worry about. Ha. Now you lowly bandits are the least of this worlds issues." The man let out a sigh and with one arm swung his axe easily splitting a massive wooden pillar that helped keep the tavern up with a single strike. "You made a statement to this young man over here. Told him to hand over the slave girl did you not? Well I'll make the same one. I'll be taking this poor girl. Rather you all die or not is up to you."
None of the bandits moved or did anything. Finally one said something.
"T... That big man is... Gabriel... He's from a far off village... I... Hear they call him the Helm Splitter due to his sheer power..."
The man who was apparently named Gabriel gave a small smirk. "Good. Honestly I don't want to kill but if you know who I am we can avoid that."
"Y... You're saving me?" The girl asked.
"That I am." Gabriel gave her a small smile as he crouched down placing his hand on her shoulder. "I'd like you to come stay at my village. First we have to meet up with my friends. Jonah and David though. We came here to hunt a Doe you see. And bring it back."
"Y... You're a nice person."
Gabriel let out a broad laugh as him and the girl began to walk away. "Now. I wouldn't say that."
Davi remained where he was standing as he watched them leave. Slowly a smile came onto his face showing a mouth filled with twisted and fanged teeth like a shark. "So. Thats where my Dragon is."
***
'Sampson here. David, Jonah, the animal is heading your way get your bows ready...'
"Yeah, yeah. We hear ya."
In the middle of what appeared to be a large forest two men could be seen. Both men wore long brown cloaks and had a quiver of arrows at their sides as well as several crossbow bolts. Next to the two men was a large shining black orb that had a voice coming out of it. That voice belonged to Sampson. These two men were David and Jonah.
'Take this a little more seriously would you David.' Sampson's voice said letting out a sigh from the other end of the communication device. He sounded like he was breathing heavily. As if he was running. 'You know as well as I do that if Imp doesn't get his meal it'll be us...'
"Yeah I know." David said rolling his eyes. "Don't worry. We hear ya. Jonah and I got our bows pulled back. We'll catch that doe for sure." He smirked.
"Yeah. So count on us." Jonah said speaking in a calm voice.
'Got it. Sampson out.'
The black orb faded leaving the two men standing alone in the pitch black woods as they stared dead ahead of them at the clearing in which their pray would come running out of. They'd have to make the shot in the leg. Imp liked the meals to be fresh and death often spoiled that. It would require great skill to take them out...
"So..." David said slowly a small smirk on his lips. "What do you think about all of this."
"What do you mean, 'all this' that is a pretty bold question you know?" Jonah asked speaking in a dull tone as he stared ahead. He never was one that was up for much talking.
"You know... This. As in everything I guess. Our job. This Kingdom. The war. The state the world is in? You know. When nine years ago everything seemed to go wrong. What do you think about it all?"
"Odd question. Honestly not much I guess. I prefer to just keep on living the way I do and just ignore all the weird and strange things. Why do you ask?"
"Oh. No reason. Just something my boy Luck said... He's turning thirteen soon you know. Pretty soon I'll be teaching him how to fire a bow. One day he'll be taking over for these hunting jobs ya know?"
"I suppose."
"Yeah. He came to me and asked me out of the blue why there was so many things wrong with the world. I mean... Before we just had to deal with Oddity Beasts ya know. Monsters and all that. But now that we have those damn Demons, dragons, wars, you name it..."
"As far I know its always been like this. Ever since the first world war in which King Arthur, wielding his Holy Blade Excalibur struck down Lancelot the traitor, and shattered his demonic sword into ten pieces. For Four Hundred Years now we've been at war..."
"I suppose we have. Still... Not as bad as it could be right?"
"...I do not follow." Jonah grunted out.
"Figures. I mean someone as simple as you wouldn't get it buddy. I mean... Its not dull. Ya know. The world. Loads of rumors and stories. Its pretty interesting. The other day I heard a really good one. You know about the Arcane Hunters right? Monster Hunters imbued with magical power. Apparently there are some rumors about an experiment they've been getting up to. And now theres talk of this grey haried hunter who-"
"I think we should focus. After all we don't want to miss our target."
"Don't you worry. I'm the best God damn Archer in our Village. If anyone can make this shot its me. I never miss after all." David smirked. "The other day I even managed to hit a-"
Before he could finish the trees began to shake as the branches moved and swayed wildly as if something was running through it.
"Here it comes." Jonah said pulling back on his bow as David did the same.
"Three."
"Two..."
"One!" They both announced.
Seconds later Jonah release his string his arrow firing out as something jumped out of the bushes at a high speed. His arrow wizzed by narrowly avoiding their prey and stabbing into the tree next to the pretty doe they were targeting making her yell out in fear tears streaming down her eyes, her messy brown hair flowing out. David's was more on point though, he always had been the better shot after all, his arrow stabbing right through the left leg of the girl who came running out.
She howled in utter pain her eyes going wide when she saw the two smirking men who had been waiting on her. She slammed into the ground in a rough way rolling across it dirt and grass covering her as she cried out and screamed.
She looked worse off then when Gabriel had gotten her. When he had freed her earlier that day. She was still just in a brown tunic but now it was covered in cuts and rips. Her flesh was torn and she was badly bruised mud and dirt covering her. More tears as well as blood streamed out of her eyes and wounds like a river as she sobbed and held onto her pierced leg.
"Looks like we got our doe." David smirked fist pumping a now smiling Jonah. "Target caught. Sampson led her here like he said he would."
"P... Please... Please oh God..." The woman sobbed out. She looked utterly pathetic. As if she would throw up, or simply roll over and die, at any moment. "I... I'm begging you. I... I'll do anything."
"Shh. Its okay." David shushed her gently as him and Jonah began to walk towards her. "Trust me. It isn't us you should be sobbing and begging for. Its our good pal Imp. He's the one making us do this you see. In this world its a dog eat dog world. We don't go and bring him a snack and... Well... He gets pretty hungry. Luckily for us... Theres a city full of you slave kids. All we have to do is get a few of you out and hunt ya down. And no one ever suspects our little peaceful village. Not with the war with Alnwick, and Camelot going on."
The girls sobs got louder as she tried to crawl away but was shoved down by Jonah who held her down. "Stop struggling or we'll have to make it worse. I know it seems cruel but please look at it from our position. You're a worthless human being who lives as a slave and likely never got anything done with her life right? Meanwhile we worked hard to keep our Kingdom going and keep the local forest safe. Our lives are much more valuable then yours when you think about it like that, and everyone in our village is like this. The death of your worthless life will save all of our much more valuable lives. By killing off one worthless thing many more worthwhile things can live." He said giving her his best cheerful smile.
It only made her sob more as David tied her hands and feet and quickly gagged her.
"Yeah I don't think thats how she sees things Jonah." David chuckled. "Ahh well. This is always the hardest part. A few more years though... I just need to bare through it for a little while longer... The hike back to our village is pretty long miss. At least a week. We try to do the killings far away you see." David picked the woman up with one arm throwing her over his shoulder. "We'll be taking you back to the carriage now."
"Hmm... Wait..." Jonah said holding his hand up. "The carriage... Neither of us our good with horses. That job goes to Sampson."
"And?"
"And where is he?"
David looked around and noticed that Sampson wasn't here. "Huh. You're right. Weird." He reached up to the girls gag. "Hey you know where our friend is? He was the big scary guy chasing you through the woods with a battle axe leading you towards us?"
"PLEASE SOMEBODY HEL-"
He regagged her. "Thats a no."
"Perhaps he tripped in the woods and bumped his head?" Jonah asked shrugging.
"Yeah... Maybe-"
'Snap!'
The sound of a tree branch snapping caused them both to turn. They saw the outline of someone walking towards them. "Sampson? That you?" David called out.
"No." Jonah shook his head. "That figure is to small. It's someone else." He warned pulling back on his bow.
David gave a smirk and set the woman down pulling one of his own arrows out. "Well... I guess we could bring Imp a second snack right? After all that bastard goes through them so-" The figure raised their arm up and hurled something towards them.
'Thud.'
The thing hit the ground next to the men rolling towards them. They stared at it their eyes wide when they saw it was a severed head.
"S... Sampson..."
"I thought you two were Dragons, but no. You're just monsters. Human Monsters." A voice sighed out. The figure stepped forward finally allowing itself to be seen.
He was young. Only in his early or late twenties at the most from the looks of it. He had snow white hair and two colored eyes. His left eye was a strange yellow color. His right though was a faded and milky white like it was blind only a faint bit of yellow left behind. He was dressed in a long sleeved red tunic shirt and blue pants. His left arm was covered in bandages and he held a wood cutters axe in his right hand. The same weapon Sampson had. He had a small belt which showed off a small hand gun. Lastly he had a brown pouch filled with many things such as his cloak and lastly a long sword hung at his side still in its sheath.
"Sup. Names Davi Hawker." The figure said giving a small grin and showing a mouth filled with rows of razor sharp shark like teeth. "You two mentioned an Imp right? Wanna tell me about that-"
"Forget taking him in alive he dies." Jonah hissed. Without hesitation he let go of his string launching the arrow forward at a high speed. Davi's right eye lit up with a red light for a moment and before the arrow could even reach Davi his left hand fired up catching it with ease. Also with ease, his right hand casually threw the axe launching it into the skull of Jonah who fell back in one motion dead before he even hit the ground.
"That was rude." Davi hummed scratching his chin. "I was just going to ask him a question... I mean I was totally still going to kill you guys, I mean come on who kid naps girls in this day and age, but still. Didn't have to shoot an arrow at me? Was it the teeth? It was the teeth right-"
"J... Jonah!" David screamed in rage. He turned back glaring at Davi as he raised his bow up. "You bastard!" He screamed firing the arrow out. Davi spun to the side the arrow flying past him, then with his next step fired himself forward his left hand wrapping around David's face- Blood suddenly splattered out, as David's arrow bounced off of the trunk of a branch and stabbed through Davi's back causing him to fall to the ground red blood spilling out of the wound. David fell back reaching up to where Davi had touched him. Then... Slowly he began to chuckle. "H... Ha... Hahaha... Hahahahahaha. Thats what you get you dumbass. I'm the greatest shot in my village- No! I'm the greatest shot in the world! I'm better than anyone. I'm-"
"You really are good. I didn't see that coming."
"W... What!" Davi began to slowly push himself up with a groan. He reached up and causally pulled the arrow out of his back. "T... That doesn't make any sense. I pierced your heart through your back! Y... You're dead. Dead, dead, dead! I killed you!"
"And that was your last mistake." Davi grinned showing off his shark like smile. He reached up with his left hand wrapping it around David's face. "You went and assumed I still had a heart."
The grass, as well as the woman, was stained red, when Davi squeezed down...
In a world of dreams and goal, is the destiny of oneself controlled by some guiding force that isn't his own? Is it like the hand of God hovering above them?
Just how much control...
Do we have over our goals.
How far can our wishes alone take us?