Chereads / Tales of Zeroth / Chapter 18 - The Embers of the Flame

Chapter 18 - The Embers of the Flame

It was early in the morning when the sun had not come out yet, and the wings of a massive dragon were ripping through the skies. Behind the dragon's back was a carriage with fifteen warriors and a beast residing on top of it.

One of these warriors was Rapl, whose breaths produced smoke that spoke of the cold air, yet his clothes kept him warm. Next to him was his party, Bok was sharpening his blade as Leena double-checked her arrows, Alex was petting Rico while Sevi was muttering to himself.

Rapl could feel their tenseness.

Only a week ago Artefus commanded them to do battle with a rogue group of pirates that were causing havoc in Zan's central lands. After Artefus announced it to everyone, Rapl questioned his lord.

"Master!" He called out, "A-Are you sure we can do t-this? What if they are too strong for us?" But at Rapl's questioning, Artefus simply stared into Rapl's eyes, his brows lifted a bit.

"Have you forgotten what I've told you Rapl? Even if they are stronger than you, it doesn't mean you cannot beat them," Artefus reiterated, "But most of all everyone, Dyrin is attacking and killing Zanians, I'm preparing you all to battle the world, to defend Zan. So what is an army of pirates to the future champions of Zan?"

Everyone nodded, still worried, but slightly less so, "We've got one week to prepare, let's work hard everyone," Bok exclaimed, rushing towards the training area. Everyone grinned as they followed up.

But as Rapl was about to go with his group, Artefus laid a hand on his shoulder, "Rapl, I have a proposition to ask you," he announced, making Rapl raise his eyebrow.

"Yes, what is it, your Majesty?" Rapl returned, waiting for Artefus to respond. As the Lich cleared his throat, his eyes had a hint of hesitancy as he opened his mouth.

"Do not take this for offense, but your name, Rapl, isn't really that intimidating," Artefus exclaimed, a topic Rapl didn't really expect, "Being a Lich means being terrifying to anyone who dares to point a blade at our people, I know it is your name, and it's meaning in Kendrian is significant, but Rapl isn't a name that would strike fear into anyone."

Rapl tilted his head slightly, a bit offended but he knew Artefus didn't mean any harm on it, "So~ what do you suggest? I change my name?" He asked.

Artefus shook his head, "No no, I was thinking just to give you an alias, a name people can refer to you if you are handling anything involving Zan, I also know you don't want to tarnish your family name, so this would help."

Rapl nodded as he agreed with the statement, "So? Do you have one?"

The Lich scoffed as he stared Rapl in the eyes again, "Yeah, I have one."

Back in the present, Rapl made his way to the front saddle of the dragon, where a dragon rider was carefully dictating where the dragon was going, "How much more longer till we get there Heroca?" Rapl questioned.

"The city of Krome is only half an hour away," the rider remarked as she looked up to Rapl. His hair was slicked back, and his blue cross-like eyes stared into the dark clouds. On his body was black and red armor, and on his shoulders were ornaments resembling horns. Instead of a cape like that of the Great Lich, he wore a long coat, with the tail end moving with the wind.

Behind him were fourteen soldiers, four of Artefus' new apprentices, three red scars, three high-ranking soldiers of the protector class, three more of the fighter class, and one swordsaint; behind them was the beast Rico, a hybrid salamander. This force was led by the heir of Artefus, the Lesser Lich, Ashkin.

"Tell Krome to prepare its soldiers, at least a thousand," Rapl commanded, leading the rider to nod as she began to chant a spell. Rapl went back to the carriage, and as everyone turned their head toward his direction, he uttered, "We have half an hour till we reach Krome, when we get there, we will gather all the information available, and we will attack Dyrin's ship located just over the hills of the city."

As Rapl said this, Sevi decided to open his mouth, "Ra-... Ashkin, if I may add something, while we were soaring, I saw a glint below the clouds." Everyone's eyes widened at the information.

"A telescope?" The swordsaint asked, leading Sevi to nod, "They must know we're close then, should we return to that position and try to take out the spies?"

"I do not think so," Leena added, petting Rico as she stared back at the swordsaint, "Judging where we are currently, they are closer to their ships than we are to the city, even though our force currently is strong, judging from Lord Artefus' information, they will overwhelm us."

To add to this, Bok decided to support Leena. He was there when she decided to ask Artefus thoroughly about their opponent's full force, "From what I've heard, they have over ten lesser champions, and five notable ones. The strongest from speculation is Dyrin himself… His strength is likely less than yours swordsaint, but the sheer amount of soldiers they have is going to be too much."

Rapl, gathering all the information, came to his conclusion, "We will approach Krome, but Dyrin and his forces are likely to immediately attack us judging from his past actions. All of us need to rush towards the mayor of Krome, and notify them as fast as possible, so that we might be able to fight off Dyrin and his men outside the walls."

Rapl was given this group of soldiers personally by Artefus himself, and his command to them, 'Follow whatever your Lich says,' so as Rapl uttered these words, everyone collectively nodded in determination.

"We'll show them Zan's might." The Lesser Lich uttered, his voice filled with conviction. But below the clouds, the misty ground of the morning hid two hooded figures. They snickered their way through the trees and foliage, using their expert maneuvering skills to move like animals through the forests.

But after ten minutes of running, they reached a shore, hidden by hundreds of hills. On that shore were hundreds of boats and makeshift tents. In them were cheery men and women, blades and axes in their hands and armor and fur on their bodies.

As the two figures took off their hood, they moved their way through the crowds, but something caught their eye. In an isolated tent, a man was there with a woman, he looked unsavory as she looked terrified, "That's one of the Zanian girls we captured," one of the hooded men remarked as the other one began to run towards the tent.

In the tent, the man pointed a blade at the woman, her eyes full of panic, "C'mon, just a little bit young lady, do it as a favor for not killing you in that raid," the man asked, his face bearing a crooked smile.

"N-No please, let me… let me be," the woman begged, "Oh please, Great Lich save me," she whispered under her breath. The man, not having it, grabbed her by the collar as he brought her closer.

But as he was about to do some unsavory acts towards her, a hand firmly grabbed his wrist. As he turned to see who it was, he saw a man with long purple hair, his yellow eyes pointed directly towards his, and a plain smile was plastered on his face. "What do you think you're doing?" The man known as Dyrin asked, his grip forcing the man to unhand the woman.

"I-I was just… helping the captives, hehe," the man replied, yet Dyrin didn't believe it. As he gripped the man's wrist more, the man began to grunt in pain.

"Do not lie to me," Dyrin remarked with so much venom behind that smile of his, "After how much this lady suffered with the rule of the Lich, you decided to exploit her? I THOUGHT I MADE IT CLEAR!!" With a shout, Dyrin grabbed the man's hair and began to drag him out of the tent past the two hooded figures.

Outside, a crowd formed as Dyrin dragged him in front of everybody, his cries being heard far and wide, "P-PLEASE FORGIVE ME!!" The man yelled out, but Dyrin wasn't one to forgive.

In front of everyone, Dyrin opened his mouth as he shouted, "OUR PURPOSE FOR BEING HERE IN THE DARK EMPEROR'S TERRITORY WAS FOR WHAT!? WAS IT TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THOSE CURRENTLY SUFFERING UNDER THE LICH'S RULE!!!"

As Dyrin yelled, everyone immediately knew what was this about. Their faces turned to disgust as the man's face was laid on the dirt with Dyrin's foot over it.

"OUR PURPOSE FOR BEING HERE WAS TO SAVE THE ZANIANS!! YET STILL I WALKED INTO THIS MAN ASSAULTING A YOUNG ZANIAN LADY!! IS THAT WHAT WE ALL CAME HERE FOR!?" Dyrin continued, his voice was loud, and his heart was expecting a reply, and it came.

"NO!!" The crowd yelled, leading Dyrin to grin. With a small gesture of his hand, two men started coming up towards him. But before they arrived, Dyrin crouched down, for the man to hear what he would say.

"You disgust me, I hope they show you no mercy," he uttered, still having that smile as he stood up again to face the two men, "Put him in a cage, leave him here when we leave, put up a sign of his crimes, I'm sure even the Zanians would like to feed this pig to their dragons." Dyrin left, leaving the man to yell for forgiveness, something Dyrin would never grant.

As the crowd dissipated, the two spies walked up to Dyrin, their faces in awe of their ace champion's act, "You're an inspiration Dyrin," the first spy remarked, leading the other one to slap him.

"We're here to work Folnir, we can compliment Dyrin later," the second spy replied. But with the information of news, Dyrin waved them off for now.

"Tell me in my office, I've got some apologizing to do," he stated as he entered the tent where the young Zanian woman was. She flinched as she saw Dyrin, seeing her fear, he didn't come close as to make her feel safe, "I'm sorry for that man's actions, I promise we're not all like that."

A smile was on Dyrin's face, a gentle smile that subdued her nerves a bit. Seeing her get less tensed, Dyrin smiled more, a radiating aura of positivity coming from him, an aura that even the young lady felt.

"Great! If you're ready, you can follow me to where we keep Zanians, you can follow a few feet behind it's fine," Dyrin exclaimed, his voice inviting and soothing, he exited the tent, and not a few seconds later, the woman followed.

Dyrin began to walk with the woman, not minding the five-feet gap between them. As the woman passed more of Dyrin's soldiers, she was met by nothing but compliments, apologies, and smiles.

It stunned her, but not as much as where Dyrin left her, "Tada~ this is temporary so it's not going to be the best, but we tried to make it the most homey we ever could." In front of the woman was a hut made of wood and fabric, hundreds of Zanians, eating and talking, overall they looked like they were well kept.

That was when the woman recognized someone, a man with dark long hair looking around the crowd, "Garaz!" She yelled as she took off running, her shout made the man turn, and when he saw her, his eyes began to water.

"Jen!" He yelled in return as they met in an embrace, "I thought I'd never get to see you again my beloved."

Dyrin's already big smile grew as he took in this sight. He turned and began to skip away in joy. "I wonder when I will get a wife?" he murmured to himself as he made his way to his tent.

There, an argument was taking place, one very common to him. A tall male orc was arguing with a halfling; Dyrin came up to them, separating the two, and told them to calm down. These were two of Dyrin's captains, the orc was the known and respected Ja'Klei, and the halfling was the rising champion, Verti.

"What was it this time?" Dyrin asked, his tone like that of a tired parent, but his face still smiling. He made his way to his chair, waiting for an answer.

Ja'Klei was the first one to respond, he cleared his throat as he beckoned the two spies that Dyrin directed in front of him, "Dyrin, these spies managed to get critical information about a Zanian dragon approaching Krome, it was alone, leading to my idea that it was a carriage full of champions sent over to battle us."

Like an excited kid, Verti tried to overshadow Ja'Klei and the spies by going in front of them, Dyrin almost cracked a giggle as her height only really covered up to their waist, "SO WE SHOULD COME AT THEM AT FULL FORCE SHOULDN'T WE DYRIN!!" She yelled with intense enthusiasm.

All manner of a parently figure disappeared on Dyrin's manners as he got up from his seat, rushing up to Verti as they interlocked fingers and began hopping with excitement, "YEAH YEAH!! OUR LAST BATTLE WITH A GOOD COMPETITOR WAS SO FUN!!"

But mirroring Dyrin from earlier, Ja'Klei's hand grabbed the human and the halfling's face, separating them, "YOU IDIOTS!!" The orc began, "It was because of both of you and Tuck we almost died in Veluza, if it wasn't for me and Frieda making up a plan B, we would've died."

Dyrin's smile brightened as Ja'Klei remarked those words, "Then just make a plan B then." The spies, who had already done their job, opted to leave the tent, for those three are known to be destructive together.

But as they started to back up, their backs hit something. As they turned, they saw a tall woman, with a shorter man next to him, "Sorry," the man excused as he and the woman entered the tent, leaving the two spies a bit worried about what they were going to discuss in that room.

As Ja'Klei turned to the woman and the man, he sighed, "Not this bumbling idiot," he expressed as his eyes locked on the shorter man.

The man was young, in his mid-twenties, and clean-shaven. The woman had long hair that went down her tall body. These two were more of Dyrin's captains Tuck, the shorter man, and Frieda, the taller woman.

"I HEAR WE'RE FIGHTING AGAIN!!" Tuck yelled, leading him to join Dyrin and Verti in skipping with joy, Frieda just giggled as Ja'Klei sighed.

The orc got between the three battle-thirsty warriors, his face stern, "NO!! We need to discuss if we're fighting or no-"

"I'm the leader, I want to go to war, anyone else?" Dyrin announced, leading everyone but Ja'Klei to lift their hands.

"I HAVE A FEW MOVES I WANNA DO!!" Verti excitedly yelled.

"MY WIND MAGIC HAS IMPROVED DRASTICALLY FROM LAST TIME!! I WANNA TEST IT OUT!!" Tuck declared with his hands held high.

"I think we can do this," Frieda softly agreed.

Ja'Klei's eyes widened at how battle-thirsty everyone was, "Have yo- HAVE YOU GUYS NOT LEARNED!!" He yelled, but before the orc could say anything more, Dyrin dashed out of the tent.

Seeing this, Verti ran to where Dyrin's chair was, getting a box under it and throwing it towards him, "DYRIN!! CATCH!!" She yelled as the box opened up to reveal a knife, one whose blade was purple like that of Dyrin's hair.

Dyrin exited the tent, his smile fiery. With a loud voice, he called for his soldiers, "EVERYONE!! WE'RE GOING TO WAR AGAIN!! PREPARE EVERYTHING FOR TODAY WE WILL MARCH TOWARDS KROME!!" He announced, and after a few silent seconds, Dyrin's soldiers yelled out in agreement, their hearts burning with the thought of war.

"What an idiot," Ja'Klei remarked, walking to the right side of Dyrin, a staff in his hand, and a scowl on his face, yet still a smile was plastered, "You all better fight hard."

Then from the tent again, a massive blade with a length of seven feet came out first, "Heh, what do you expect us to do, fight soft?" Verti exclaimed, stabbing the ground with her sword on Dyrin's left side as she sat on the guard.

"LET'S DO THIS!! LET ME FIGHT THE STRONGEST THIS TIME!!" Tuck boasted as he exited the tent, his hands pulsing with the wind helping him float.

"Just be careful, okay, darling?" Frieda said, leaving the tent with a massive shield and a blade behind her back. Her eyes pointed at Dyrin, and she smiled calmly. "But I think our leader here would want to take that spot."

Dyrin chuckled, "Of course, one step at a time, one champion at a time, and one achievement at a time, and soon the world will know the name, DYRIN OF HULDA!! THE UNBREAKABLE SPIRIT!!"