In the north of the island of Ishlin, a couple of hours before nightfall at the forest's edge, a heavily armored dwarf stands resolute. He is clad in thick, intricately forged plate armor that gleams with a dull, battle-worn sheen. His robust frame is compact yet powerfully built. Each piece of armor is meticulously crafted for maximum protection, visibly sacrificing agility for impenetrability. His helmet, adorned with intricate engravings and a prominent nose guard, leaves only his piercing green eyes barely visible. In his right hand, he wields a massive shield, nearly as tall as he is.
The shield is a masterpiece of dwarven craftsmanship, made from reinforced steel with runic symbols etched along its surface, hinting at protective magic. The edges of the shield are curved, designed to deflect all blows. In his other hand, he carries a bundle of sticks, still wet from the morning rain. On his belt hang a couple of bags and a beautifully decorated war-pick, dwarven runes etched into it. The dwarf starts moving with slow, deliberate determination, his heavy armor making each step a display of the sheer strength and endurance required to carry such weight.
The Dwarf slowly makes his way back to a nearby hill with a fire perched atop it. When he gets to the bottom of the hill he notices four people standing around the fire "Four? Did someone see the fire and come to join us for the night? I was pretty close, so I'm confident I would have heard any fighting. And sneaking up on Cassian should be impossible, at least for anyone on this island. Hmm. Oh well, we'll see how it goes." the dwarf mutters to himself. He continues walking and, after a while, calls out to them, "Who's the newcomer?" The four figures turn around and look at him. Silence. They just keep staring at him. 'The fuck?' he thinks, but before he can consider further, he hears a voice. "Nyrion, we have to talk." It's the voice of the party's leader and strongest member, the magic swordsman Kaius Angar. 'Uh oh, this can't be good,' thinks Nyrion. Without stopping, he continues up the hill. The minute it takes him to get there is filled with uncomfortable silence.
As he ascends, he observes the fourth person. He has never seen them before, and technically, he still hasn't, his eyesight, worse than what it should be for someone of his level. However, one thing is clear: this person is strong, way stronger than any of them. Maybe even all of them combined… Nyrion finally becomes nervous. Are his party members being held hostage by this person? Before he can think further, he arrives at the top of the hill where he can finally see everyone. Before him stood two men and two women all four breathtakingly beautiful. Nyrion was hesitant when admitting this to himself, but compared to these 4 even calling himself average would be a compliment.
To his left stood the party's ranger, Cassian he had a short bow on his back and a small crossbow attached to his left arm, 2 knives were hanging on his belt one on each side of his body. He was level 17 with an impressive amount of mana and a high focus on dexterity, an expert tracker, and a known womanizer. He wears light leather armor, his golden blonde hair and tanned muscles make him a sight to behold.
Next to him stood Alice Strome, the party's barbarian and Cassian's ex-girlfriend three times over. Yes, three times. Each breakup stemmed from Cassian's infidelity, followed by his empty promises to change, and the inevitable repetition of his mistakes. Her muscles, powerful yet not excessively bulky, were a testament to the sheer power she possessed. Her blood-red hair flowed down her neck, where it met the armor crafted from the hide of a giant brown dire wolf. A massive double-sided axe sat on her back almost as big as Cassian was tall. She was also level 17 with above-average mana and a focus on strength.
In the middle stood Kaius Angar the party's leader and the only magic swordsman Nyrion had ever met. He was unquestionably the strongest in the team despite being a level lower than Cassian and Alice. He had short black hair, porcelain skin, and deep red eyes. To the unknowing eye, if not for his equipment, Kaius might even appear fragile. His armor, the darkest of blacks, was crafted from the scales of an ancient black dragon. On his back, he carried a white greatsword made of dragon bone, its sharpness and strength unquestionable…
He was the first prince of the fallen kingdom of Elar. After branding the king and his family heretics, the Holy Zark Empire invaded and conquered the kingdom after a short but brutal war. Kaius was the only survivor of the royal family. While fleeing the country, he managed to take with him his family's heirloom, the black dragon armor Vantablack, and the dragon bone greatsword the Voidfang. His determination to become the strongest and destroy the Zark Empire is well-known to all his comrades.
On the right stood a mysterious woman clad in black cloth covering everything except her beautiful face, her hair so black as to be indistinguishable from the clothes she was wearing. No weapon was visible but after coming so close Nyrion could feel the sheer power she possessed.
"Well, are you gonna say something or are you just gonna stand there like a scarecrow?" Said Nyrion while looking at Kaius, trying his best to hide the nervousness that gripped him. "You wanna say it, or should I?" asks the mysterious woman, looking at Kaius. Kaius looks at her, then back at Nyrion, his expression tense, which was very unusual for him. "Nyrion, we have known each other for long enough that I know you are not one for beating around the bush, so I'll just say it straight." Nyrions face turned into a frown, though none of the present people could tell given the helmet covering his face. "We have all decided that you will no longer be a part of our party."
Terror and confusion are the only words that can describe Nyrions current expression. 'Wha, what did he just say? I misheard him, I must have! We have been adventuring together for over five years now! We fought, we ate, we talked with each other every single day! Yes, Cassian can be annoying and Alice mostly ignores me, but I consider all three of them friends! And Kaius… the one person I trust the most, and my best friend.'
"I must be getting old. I just thought I heard you say I'm getting kicked out of the party, haha," Nyrion says with a forced laugh, no longer trying to hide his worry.
"I'm sorry Nyrion" Said Kaius. "But you didn't mishear. While it is a secret, in consideration of the long years we have spent together I will tell you why we have decided to do this." The mysterious woman looked at him with a frown but didn't say anything. Kaius looked deep into my eyes and said "The Osari Kingdom gave us an offer we couldn't possibly refuse, Cassian and Alice accepted for their reasons and I for my own which are very well known to you."
Nyrions face was a contortion of many different emotions, there was fear, anger, confusion, betrayal, and a tiny bit of hope that this whole situation wasn't real or that they were just making a joke on him. Before Nyrion can fully process what he just heard, Kaius continues, "The three of us will be assigned a special status within the kingdom. We will become champions. And in exchange for the king's generous assistance in making us more powerful, we will, after becoming stronger, help them defeat or at least hold back the Holy Zark Empire. Unfortunately, you were deemed not talented or powerful enough to join us."
Nyrions entire world broke down, 5 years, 5 fucking years he traveled with them, 5 years that he considered to be the best ones of his 54-year-old life, over, just like that. He couldn't believe it.
"Ha, hahahahahhahahaha, that's it? After everything we went through, it's just over? Motherfucker, I sacrificed so much for all of you, and you dare to say to my face that I'm not good enough to come with you!? I'm not powerful since I invested my stats specifically to best fit this team!" He said, his voice growing angrier and louder with each word. "I'm the fucking tank! I hold the line while the three of you kill whoever the fuck I'm holding back! Of course, I'm not as strong as all of you! I have never put a point in dexterity! For you! I put all my points into constitution and just enough into strength to hold my shield so the three of you can do your job better! So you can be safer! I always thought that in the future once I got better equipment I could finally put points into something else than constitution, I even wanted to learn magic. But now? What the fuck do you want me to do now!? My dexterity is so low even things with lower levels than me can dodge my attacks! And finding a team on my level that just so happens to need a tank that can only tank will take years!"
Nyrion screamed, his voice growing more exhausted with each word. He said it all in one burst, and then, in a fit of anger, he threw the bundle of sticks he was still holding at the ground, which exploded on impact. After a few seconds of silence only broken by Nyrions panting, Alice spoke up. "Don't take this personally, the offer was simply too good for us to refuse just for you." Nyrion couldn't believe what he was hearing but before he could do anything Cassian spoke up. "I'm sorry Nyr, but we have to do this, you wouldn't believe the things we will gain by becoming champions. Listen, I like you, we're friends after all. But… I can't pass up such an opportunity, we can still be friends we just won't be in the same party anymore."
The hope vanished from Nyrions eyes as did the confusion and fear, rage was all that was left and there was a lot of it. Then the mysterious woman spoke up. "Are you guys done with your goodbyes? We need to get back to the city before sundown." she said matter-of-factly not looking at anyone in particular. Kaius nodded and looked back at Nyrion.
"If we ever meet again, I hope we can still be friends. Goodbye, and I wish you well." Said Kaius, he then looked at the woman, picked up a bag from the ground, put it over his shoulder, and began to leave. Alice started walking behind him not even sparing me a glance.
"We are going to Alum, you can come with us if you want. We could go for one last outing, drinks on me of course."
Said Cassian with a smile. Alum was the island's second biggest city as well as the currently closest one to them. Nyrion just glared at him, the anger he felt while not physically visible was easily noticeable.
"I guess that's a no," He said his smile turning into a sad frown, even through his anger Nyrion could tell that Cassian was genuinely saddened. "Well then, goodbye my friend, I truly hope we meet again" After a bit of hesitation, he began walking away to the west quickly catching up with the other two.
"Don't blame them" said the black clothed woman. "I was only supposed to recruit the prince but he insisted on taking his companions with him. Taking those two is already a risk for my career since I'm going against orders. And frankly speaking, they are quite a bit better than you, if I took you as well me getting fired would be a good outcome." The woman said nonchalantly, and then then turned to leave, but after taking only a single step she heard a voice. "How long? How long ago did you make this deal? How long have they kept me in the dark?"
Nyrion said quietly, the sadness easily heard within his voice. But wait wasn't he furious just a bit ago? Well, yes, but what was he supposed to do? Attack them? Sure he felt that he was betrayed, but they were still his friends, and even if he did attack them he would be laying face first in the dirt before he was halfway through whatever attack he was making, he was easily the weakest one present. There was nothing Nyrion could do to relieve his anger except shout, which he had done plenty of already. All that was left were the feelings of betrayal and sadness. The woman turned to him and said:
"About a month ago? Should be around that. Back then I only agreed on taking the prince and that Strome girl, I do admit that the ranger is more skilled than her but that personality of his is a problem. The prince convinced me to give him some time to think it over, but I think he just wanted you three to grow strong enough to come with him. And well I came around to the ranger but frankly speaking, the way you distributed your life energy is downright stupid. Your mana is okay but you could only win against an opponent on your level if they were already wounded, human or otherwise. That being said your skills are perfect for a military unit, but having someone with such a high level even if you can only be a shield for others, become a regular soldier would be a waste. The only thing I can compliment you on is your experience and equipment, while not as good as the prince's of course, your armor and shield especially are quite good. If you level up twice or more and put all that life energy into dexterity we would happily accept you as a lieutenant, and if your assigned commander approves of you there is a high possibility of getting a promotion. Anyway, I should leave now, if you do decide to join us go to Alum and say that Marquess Alma recommended you to join."
She said while tossing him a metal badge which he caught out of instinct, then she quickly departed taking no time at all to join the others, without even looking like she was straining herself. Nyrion didn't even look at the piece of metal, he already knew that he was weaker than his companions but being told so in the face was a different matter, especially for a proud dwarf warrior. He just stood there in silence, alone, the only disturbance being the occasional wind and crackling of the flame, his body lit up by the dancing flames of the campfire. Nyrion just stood there in silence for minutes on end. He looked up at the sky and thought 'I'm too weak for you eh? You hope the next time we meet we'll still be friends eh? Well, guess what, a true friendship can only be between equals and the next time we meet you will be the weaker one! I'm gonna grow so strong you'll plop on that princely ass of yours from shock when you see me! All of you will be begging me to join you!'
A smirk appeared on his face. "Just you wait." Nyrion said after looking down to see the four figures which by now were barely visible on the horizon. After turning around he started moving toward the forest, each step leaving a deep imprint in the ground. Any trace of betrayal or sadness had long vanished from his face. Without the helmet, the only thing one could see would be a smirk and the deep determination visible in his green eyes. He descended the hill and without looking back he entered the forest.
End of prologue.