Out of the castle into the world

[blueayes]

One shot

The entire hall was silent as she watched the battle come to an end, the armies of the undead were being annihilated as the knights used crystals that had been embedded with holy magic to put the restless souls to rest.

She couldn't help but cry as she watched her brother let out a breath as she watched the knights slowly surround him, each one holding their weapons ready to kill her brother.

And yet none of them did, instead, the oldest of the knights walked up to her brother and congratulated him on a job well done.

Tears began to fall from her eyes as she quickly realized that her brother would soon be somewhere beyond her reach.

"Don't go" she struggled to say, yet she failed to notice that both her father and mother had entered the hall along with the magicians and they had heard her struggle to say those short but painful filed words.

Her brother unlike herself wasn't born with the touch for magic, meaning that he couldn't cast any spells regardless of how much he studied the art of magic.

He lacked any sense of talent for any weapon, and his intelligence well no one would ever call him a genius.

Perhaps that was why she had grown to believe herself superior to him and why he had grown such a massive inferiority complex.

Unlike him, she walked amongst mages - lords- ladies in various positions of power while true she didn't have time to deal with the peasants, while her brother spent time with lesser nobles and the people they ruled over.

Her brother didn't want to be the next lord, because he believed that someone capable should hold the position and that was her of course.

Their father however believed otherwise because the commoners needed a lord that both understood how they lived their lives and their everyday needs.

Not only that the ruler needed to be able to walk amongst the nobility and be able to stand amongst them, even if he wasn't ever going to be at the very top with the strongest of leaders.

So by their fathers' wisdom, her brother was better suited for the throne.

So one day after having an argument with their father and listening to one of his attendant's words she boldly told her brother to leave so that she could inherit the throne, after all, no one would accept a failure such as him as their ruler.

It was the anger she had felt at that moment that fueled her stupid act, and when she went to apologize, she discovered her brother was gone.

She tried to search for him and sent out scouts before anyone could find out about her treachery but when all of her attempts failed, she confessed to her father and mother what she had done.

Her father's attendant was immediately executed for his treachery, while her father and mother refused to look at her.

It had been six months since then and now that she finally found her brother, it's at the very moment that he is being welcomed into a new kingdom with opened arms.

He was her brother, he was someone that deserved the throne, someone that had helped retake the lost kingdom Myth Drannor.

She watched as the Knights handed her brother a clear blue crystal.

"Don't go" she wept, as her guilt and regret finally overwhelmed her resolve.

She watched as the crystal shattered and her brother vanished from sight.

The moment her brother was nowhere to be seen, was the moment she felt her strength abandon her and she fell to the ground before crying without restraint.

She cursed herself for being so easily manipulated, it was because of her that her brother left her father's kingdom.

It was because of her, that her brother first met the red knight that carries the greater white shite shield that has the red cross as its sigil.

It was her words that sent her brother into battle with nightmarish creatures that would have killed him instantly had it not been for the red knight.

"Sister" she heard her brother say to her as he removed the mask that covered the top half of her face.

She looked at her brother with wide eyes filled with disbelief, her brother stood before her, the days of battle combined with the time he had spent traveling had changed him.

His once innocent eyes now had a hardness in them, the kind she would see in the eyes of adventurers and nights.

"I'm home," he said to her before she threw herself at him and held him in her arms as tightly as she could, as the fear that he might leave again overwhelmed her.

"Hold on, I have a story to tell you."

"You see I met this knight who was looking for something that not even he knew what it was" her brother began to tell his tale even as she held him

This takes place during the time the Guild leaders were gone

 

[blueayes]

One shot
They held hands as they walked to the mage's house, he had told his little sister about their father and the short months he was able to come home.

He felt his sister's hand tighten slightly as they approached the mage's house, she began to slow down until she finally stopped walking.

'What's wrong?" He asked er

"Dad's supposed to be someone important, what if, he's forgotten about us?" she said to him as she looked down at the ground.

'Nope, remember what I told you Dad's a knight and he's fighting monsters in the frontier, hell come home when the war is over" he said to her as he knelt so that they were the same height.

His sister unlike himself was born completlyHumanand for that reason everyone in the town treated her warmly.

he never had trouble making friends, and was always invited to play with the other kids, and was even welcomed to spend time in their homes.

None of that was ever given to him......not until their father found them that is.

Before their father left he removed a small pin from his glove and gave it to him, the pin was shaped like a wolf's head but what stuck out the most was the single silver fang sprouting from the wolf's mouth.

Their father immediately called another emblem and gave it to his mother.

He had cherished that emblem and often held it whenever he could, when his sister was born their mother gave hers to her that very day.

The emblems are the same, but they are their most prized possessions because they proved that despite how different they may look, they are both their father's and mother's children, regardless of what others may say.

He didn't know who cursed him or why they had done it.

At first, he believed what the townspeople told him, that he must have been something thrown away that his mother took pity on and decided to raise, but when his father found them he had recognized him instantly.

One day his mother had left home to go and pick mushrooms from a nearby field, they were short on coins so they had to make do with what they could.

So he waited inside the house and passed the time playing with anything he could get his hands on.

He didn't know why, but something compelled him to look out of the window and he saw his mother walking next to a man he had never seen before.

The man had short black hair, light brown skin, the kind that only gets slightly dark when the person is outside for long periods.

The two of them were talking to each other happily and without a care in the world.

Unfortunately back then the only thing he could feel was terror.

The man accompanying his mother was covered in armor and carried a sword that was easily taller than he was back then.

Granted he was only slightly taller than the rest of the children his age, he can still remember the terror he felt at the sight of the massive man who was heading in his direction.

So without thinking he ran to the fireplace and picked up as much ash as he could and rubbed it on, that way the man wouldn't be able to see his pale skin, the burned whenever the sun touched it.

Then he graved a spare shirt and covered his head so that he could hide his ears and his silver hair.

It's funny how different a story becomes when two people tell it, wherever his mother tells people about when his father first saw him, the only thing he feels is an embarrassment, and whenever he told the same story, his words are filled with regret.

The moment the door opened his mother was met with a complete disaster, in his rush to hide his skin, he had spilled the ash all over the floor and when he ran to get something to put on his head, he had left footprints all over the floor.

He can still remember his mother's shocked expression that soon became one filled with rage.

Yet before she could say anything, the man began to laugh.

For the life of him, he can't remember the first words his father said to him, but he still remembers what he did next.

The moment his mother said that the man was his father, he ran up to the man and hugged him, the man didn't hesitate and hugged him back before carrying him.

His father's armor seemed to react to his skin and before he knew what was happening, he was burning.

His curse was being affected by whatever magical protection his father had on, yet even as his father held him in his arm, he didn't react to the fire.

The man simply stared at him and placed a silver cross necklace on his neck.

Ever since then he never removes the necklace when he's outside, after all, it's the very reason why he can work during the day, of course back then it was the very reason why he could play outside, but that didn't matter anymore.

He stood up and began to walk again.

For a brief moment he wonders how the two of them must look like, people often say that he and his sister are like night and day.

Where his sister has had long golden brown hair, light pink skin, light brown eyes, and pink lips that seemed as if they were painted red.

His sister is almost a replica of their mother except for one thing, where their mother s patient and slow to anger, his sister is prone to having temper tantrums just like any child her age.

He, on the other hand, was born with the same skin color as his father and with the help of the necklace around his neck, he now has the luxury of having the same color his father had back then.

His hair unlike his father's black hair and his mother's golden brown hair is silver and his ears despite not being as big as elves' ears, they are still bigger than any humans.

His eyes are just like his father's, meaning that they are dark to the point that they almost look completely black.

He can still remember being taught how to play catch by his father one day when the man was finished fixing the roof of the house, he decided that they had worked enough and that they both needed to relax and have some fun.

Sometimes the man would teach him how to use a sword or explain to him, that things like poisons and traps had their place in battle and that only a fool loses their life fr something that doesn't matter to him or his would-be killer.

He can still remember laughing as the man taught him several different games, or holding the man's hand as they walked through town looking for things that they needed.

The people in town murmured and gossiped, but none dared to say anything to them, and no one dared to throw rocks at him like they had when his father wasn't around.

The man would often leave home to search for something that he desperately needed, and he would be gone for days, during those days he should wait for him.

Then onde day he had to return to his post, he had to return to his post.

His sister had none of these experiences, but like himself, she was born without their father being present, but she did have him, so in his father's place he taught her everything he could.

This is why they came here, the mage is a woman with short light pink hair and fair light skin, normally a woman such as her would have many suitors, but her personality is that of an.....

To put it simply once the woman has met you ad decided that she likes you, she hugs you until you can't breathe anymore, and if she decides she doesn't like you it's as if you don't exist at all.

They stop walking and before they can knock the door swings open and they met with the woman's large breasts, yet before he can say anything his sister is lifted in the woman's embrace.

His sister desperately holds his hand so that she isn't pulled away from him.

"She can't breath," he says to the mage

The woman looks down and lets his sister go, before turning to look at him and he takes a deep breath, thankfully the woman didn't hug him, but she still acknowledged him so she didn't dislike him.

So he exhales in relief.

"Dont think I forgot about you!" the mage says to him before graving him, the warm and soft sensation that should bring joy only brings pain as the mage has more strength than she should.

Meaning that even if he tries to breathe he cant.

"Okay, I have everything ready. Now you just need to hand me a letter your father wrote and the emblem your father gave you." the mage says to them

He hands her a letter of many his father sends their mother and them whenever he can and the emblem their father gave him.

The mage doesn't bother to cast any spells she simply places both items on a nearby table and immediately the inside of the house begins to change.

His sister screams in terror as an explosion occurs, she holds onto him tightly as Orcs run past them.

The two of them slowly realize that the monsters around them cat see them and as they look around they see that they are on a battlefield somewhere.

Once again something makes him turn around and there holding a sword covered with what should be blood, was their father.

"Dad," he said as he looked at the man for the first time in years

"Look its dad," he says to his sister who just looks at the man with wide eyes, as she tries to take in everything about the man as she could

They watch as their father reaches for something that isn't there and by magic, he's suddenly holding a gold crystal, ta begins to glow as a beast the size of a mountain gets closer and closer.

Their surroundings start to change and they find themselves back inside the mage's house.

'So your father's at the frontier, no wonder he hasn't been back" the mage says to them as she hands them back the letter and the emblem

"Now off you go, the deal was that you just wanted a moment and a moment is what I gave you," the mage says to them.

So they said their goodbyes and began to walk home
][][][
Her eyes hardened as she watched the siblings walk away.

"So when are you going to tell them the truth"

"When are you going to tell that boy that he isn't human, that he was never human"

"That no one cursed him," she said to their mother

"Normally a lie like this doesn't matter, but it matters now because of what he is"

"What will you do, when he enters a cave or some hole in the ground and meets others that look exactly like him?" she asked the woman, but she doesn't answer.

"His necklace is keeping him safe for now, but if he ever loses it," she said o the woman, as she handed her an enchanted chain to replace the none magical one the necklace was being held with.

 

[blueayes]

One shot
In a single moment, they oped their eyes and gasped for air, their hearts threatening to burst out of their chests as the memory of what they had just dreamt lingered.

None of them knew each other or had ever seen each other, but whoever they were they knew that the gods had called upon them and wouldn't take no for an answer.

They stood in an unknown land that was unnaturally silent, but before they knew what was happening armies of fiends- orcs- tainted beasts from every realm spilled into the forest, but that was not the only place that was being invaded.

The sky darkened under the sheer number of creatures and spells, while underground creatures slither, crawled both in the earth and the tunnels within it.

They watched as a group of knights each carrying different sigils held firm and prePAREd themselves to meet the invaders.

They knew that they couldn't stop the invading devils, but they could at least slow them down.

They watched as a beam of light shot itself into the sky from behind the knights before spitting the sky open and a massive angelic being came down from the heavens before annihilating the first wave of invaders.

Yet as quickly as the angel came it left.

The invading devils would not be deterred and pressed to continue their attack as their dark masters used archaic spells to strengthen them.

Again, the knights used another great spell, however this time they called forth a storm of lances made of the elements that killed every monster they touched, while those that missed and landed on the ground exploded and killed those that were near them.

They watched as a small group of knights stood before what seemed like an endless army of shades- specters and undead.

The knights made quick work of their enemies before turning their sights towards those that had called the unfortunate and tainted souls alike to do their bidding.

The monsters didn't seem to have an end to them and the knights used one devastating spell after another, but slowly a group of them separated themselves to deal with a major threat amongst the invader.

One thought was shared amongst them.

The knights were losing.

Despite ever having met, they either sat on their beds, walked towards the kitchen, or sat o a chair, what could any of them do, none of them were adventurers or had any experience in battle.

That was when the image of a gate leading to a realm none of them ever knew existed appeared before each of them.

They knew they had to find the tear in reality, after that what they had to do or who they had to speak with was lost to them, but they knew that they had to seek this gate.

They tried to reject their dream and go back to sleep, but sleep wouldn't come to them.

They knew what they had to do, so they packed whatever they needed and left on their journey, never knowing that greater powers had turned to look in their direction and had begun to guide them

 

[blueayes]

The entire hall stood silently none could utter a single word, they had both taken apart of a sacred ritual and tainted themselves by forcing their way into it and we're now cursed to keep something so wonderful secret.

Yet that thought wasn't shared by all, some wanted to run out and inform every priest- paladin- druid - knight and commoner that they could find and tell them of what they had seen, what they had felt, of the experience they had been a part of.

Yet how could they? after all only those that were connected to what the knights called the chatroom could experience such a gift and they had forced themselves into it.

They had committed one of if not the highest sins they could have ever committed.

The day started simple enough, today was a corporation day, something the various faiths did every once in a while.

A representative from each of the faiths would gather and help the people, it was something that had become so common around these parts that most if not everyone just saw it as just one more thing that happened.

So they moved from city to city, from one town to another and so on, yet it was when they reached their fifth maybe the seventh village in their pilgrimage that they encountered a young woman

Comparing the woman was a boy about ten maybe twelve years old and a small girl who had just started to walk judging by the way she clumsily walked by her mother's side.

If they ignored the various magic-infused crystals the woman carried along with the pendant the child had around her neck that protected her from harm, and the shortsword that the boy carried on his waist, they would have ignored them and continued on their pilgrimage.

"Excuse me, but would you happen to be the Hands of Faith?" the Mother asked them

"Yes" answered Whispering Priest

"Could you help me find someone, you see"

"We met a man that called himself Rafael, I know the name is strange because what does a Rafael even do, but he aid that he had to leave because he had to....." the woman said to them

It was a simple case of a man that abandoned his wife and children, but there were holes in her story, she said that they met, meaning that either the woman and other people had met the man, or that one or both children had already been born by the time they met him.

"We need details," said Lizard Druid

"There was a plague in a land far away, I'm not sure how far, but we met him there" she begena to tell her story

They listened to her every word, she described a land curse by Lich who had poisoned the air so that nothing could grow and everything that breathed it became ill and died.

It was there that the woman walked alongside her brother and an infant child whose mother begged her to carry away with her last breaths, before dying and joining the bodies that littered the ground around them.

She tried t walk away to safety, away from the poison, but every step she took became harder from the last one before it and she fell.

She didn't know how long she had lied on the ground but when she awoke a man was wearing black armor tending to a fire next to it was her brother and the infant.

"Slowly," the man said to her brother as he spoon-fed him some warm stew

"Can you do it on your own?" the man asked her brother who slowly nodded

She watched as the man paced some sort of bottle onto the infant's mouth and the child eagerly succeed on it.

'You're awake, the man said to her."

"I wasn't able to see the town, my friends are investigating the other towns but I'm sorry," he said to her as he walked up to the other.

"Listen take this crystal and get the hell out of here," he said to her as he handed her a bright blue crystal that seemed to ward off the poison around them.

"Excuse me," he said o her

"What do you mean?" he said to someone that she couldn't see

"So if we can't leave, then that means the enemy can separate us when it wants to"

"I have three survivors here and I can't just leave them here," he said as he paced back and forth

"Okay change of plans, you three are coming with me"

"Now I'm going to give you three something that can help you defend yourselves, but they're only going to work if we become...." he struggled to say his next words

"Well be considered a family by all of the other players," he said

"It's the only way I can keep you three safe," he said as a blue window appeared in front of her. there was a small window n on its center, but she couldn't understand what it said.

She didn't know why, but her instincts told her to touch it, and when she did it was as if the world had opened up itself to her.

Her brother did the same but the infant only had the window in front of her for a moment and then it was gone.

She looked around and she could see letters next to everything she looked at, but she couldn't read so she didn't know what any of it meant.

Then the letters began to glow faintly, it wasn't bright so it wouldn't ever distract her, and a voice spoke directly into her mind.

She suddenly knew everything she was looking at, what it was called, what it was made for, and what materials were needed to repair the things her eyes met.

She even knew the am of the curse, but she had forgotten it and tried as she might she couldn't remember it anymore.

It was then that she turned to look at the knight and discovered who he was, Captain Rafael of the Soul Takers team, specialized with dealing with undead threats.

"You're lying," said High Elf Paladin no spell could do that none that didn't need the caster to chant for an extended period of tie anyway

"Its rue we still have it, it's the reason we came to talk to you' the boy said to them

"Why are you looking for this Rafael, considering that the three of you are here then he killed the lich came here for safety," high elf paladin said to them.

"We wanted to tell him, thank you and that we're safe" the mother of the three children answered, she may have been the girls adopted mother and the boy's sister, but she was the only mother that they hand now, so that was what she was

It was a simple request so high elf paladin used a location spell, normally such a spell would take more than a few minutes to cast, but high elf paladin could perform it in a few seconds.

The world around them changed and they found themselves inside a massive fortress, the mood around them was grim, despite a large banquet having been set up.

Wines of all sorts were being handed out, alongside various cheeses and jams.

With the knights were people from various towns and adventurers, all of which had the same sad expressions, but they were all smiling.

The knights began to sing, it was then that a blue window appeared before them.

They looked back and found that both their escorts he knights appointed to protect them in their pilgrimage had the same screen appear in front of them

Will you join your voices to the quire, it asked them in bright blue letters

They felt their heart joy with the hearts of those that were inside the fortress, all of a sudden they were no longer inside the fortress but in another realm, being watched over by gods who both loved them and pitied them.

They watched as the souls of the dead gathered both in the fortress and in the past.

In the past, the knights sang as they cried with wide smiles because they understood what had to be done and it broke them inside.

They celebrated because their torment would soon be over, they mourned those that had died and celebrated those that would one day be born.

Next to them stood the gods drinking cheering and weeping along with side them, there was o difference between any of them, that day they were one.

In the fortress, the knights- the adventurers and the commo people sang, songs o the dad, to those that would one day be born.

They gave thanks for the homes that came to know and the ones they left behind.

Amongst their group, they suddenly saw the homes of their parents, the forest they grew up in, the orphanage they had come to call home, and the mansion they had grown up in.

Without knowing it they all soon began to sing

{My son one you'll leave this world behind so go live a life you can remember" ]

They cried for those that had left this world and gave thanks to those that had helped them along the way, and before they knew it, they found themselves in the presence of not just those that ad died but also the presence of gods both of whom they knew and those that they did not

They sang together and wept together, because of what was to come.

Amongst the group stood the woman and the two children who had walked up to the man they were looking for and stood around him singing as they thanked him for saving them.

the last thing they saw, was something that child them to the core, a massive army was gathering and there was no escape.

They suddenly understood why everyone had gathered to perform this sacred ritual and they hated themselves for it

"They're going to need help," said Dwarf Shaman

They knew what they had to do, but how could they do t without revealing their crime.

"Thank you" they heard the boy and the woman say to them

Consequences be dammed they know what they had to do, and they had to do it even if it killed them

 

[blueayes]

In the few seconds, it took for her to process what she just heard, she failed to notice the stench of death that clung to those that dwell in places where many have died or those that have killed many themselves.

She heard the whispering of spirits of those that have long since gone granting their protection to the living.

Besides the armored footsteps that could only come from a man, she heard the faint steps of a woman, one young and inexperienced, yet she could feel the sensation of order in the girl's footsteps as she walked.

Her escorts stopped and her walking and allowed the pair to walk past them and they were cough by a sight that looked like night and day a young Priestess with long blond hair, and white clots walked past them accompanying a man who wore gray armor that covered him from head to toe.

Where the girl's clothes were kept clean and free of any wrinkles, the man's gray almost black armor was covered in scratches and dents, where he had received attacks from his foes and where it had been reforged after it had been broken.

The man's every step spoke of experience, while the girls spoke of youth and her inexperience was in full display with the way her body moved as she walked.

They watched as the pair walked away towards an unknown destination, this place was indeed different from their old home, to such a point where one that doesn't serve the Gods of Order can stand next to the servant of one.

They started to walk again and they slowly began to quicken their pace untile they began to move faster than any human ever could, they knew where the knight's fortress was located after all they had passed it before arriving at the town it was after a few minutes that they stopped once again.

Severa knights walked past them each one moved in such a way that it demanded obedience, yet it was their very presence that forced the forest around them to become quiet.

The beasts and monsters could sense the danger of these creatures that could no longer be called Humans as they moved, the forest became quiet, but as they left an area the forest slowly regarding the sounds it normally had.

It was as if she was watching a group of sharks moving past entire schools of fish that instinctively gave wide breaths to them.

"What lands are these that they make Humans like them," one of her guards said as he watched the knights walk away

When the knights were gone and they felt it was safe to move again they began to move towards the fortress, this time, however, they did so with more caution, lest they be mistaken for invaders.

They soon began to hear the sounds of beasts grazing in the open fields nearby, but the sounds they made were unnatural, Humans didn't keep creatures so large because they were always a threat to both them and the environment, yet as they began to get closer to the fortress they noticed some off.

In all of her years she had ever seen such a sight, Human children wearing allsorts of armors sat quietly as their instructor lectured them about something called astrology.

Yet it was the creatures next to the children that caught most of her attention, there was Pegasus grazing nearby, while a young blue dragon slept near one of the human girls.

Massive beasts carried stone and creatures she had never seen before labored as they repaired the fortress.

She watched as knights and Forge Born alike woked together as they dug the surroundings and exposed more and more of the fortress that hat had been buried over the years.

One of her escorts gasped as the trees themselves had faces on them and seemed to be having conversations with one or several of the knights, but that was impossible such beings were born to protect the forest and protect nature.

They are sacred beings that would rarely speak to any being not native to the forest they protected and yet here they are speaking to Humans that were cutting down trees.

She turned to look at one of her guards who always stayed alert and she noticed that the man was keeping his eyes on the entrance to the fortress, when she turned to look at it, she noticed the heavy stream of magick that flowed in it.

The Humans had taken something that had a connection to magic and made it their own.

This only increased the ganger of them being here and yet she couldn't help but wish to be a part of it.

She took yet again a leap of faith and walked past her escorts, the knights turned to look at her and then returned to whatever they were currently doing, they had completely dismissed her existence.

In the past this would have been a major insult, now however she had to accept that she was, is nothing, and shouldn't expect any special treatment.

She stood before the entrance to the fortress and waited, her escorts quickly took their places around her and a knight stepped out to greet them and beckoned them forward.

 

[blueayes]

][][]
They sat down at the table to eat and despite the mood, he tried to appear in high spirits for both his family and the servants.

He had been given control over all of the nearby lords, despite whatever power one might assume he had gained, the truth is completely different.

Unlike the lands near the capital, the frontier had no guarantee that any help would ever arrive, and if it did it would certainly be too late.

The lords under his command didn't have much wealth and whatever wealth they did have, it was spent, either replenishing the surrounding villages, potion supplies as well as trading what few goods the farmers- smiths and whatever else existed here.

It wasn't that there weren't any merchants in the frontier, far from it, but each lord kept a close eye on them because if just one village spent too much or sold too much, it meant the difference between life and death.

Even the adventurers guild, in these savage lands, remained a separate power because it had to be to function properly.

This alone highlighted the danger of this place, more than half of the settlers had died or disappeared, while those that survived did so out of sheer luck and avoided the attention of the monster.

The other half found one of the knights stationed nearby and were guided to their destination by them.

The knights are another issue, despite having his knights sworn to him, the ones stationed in the frontier served no lord and didn't even swear loyalty to the crown.

These are men and women whose experience far exceeded his men's and he had to somehow get them to corporate with him.

Long gone are the elegant balls filled with nobility whose with a single word sentenced entire populations fates or the plots of those that thought too highly of themselves.

His family would never again smell the delicious odor of warm bread and cooking meat in the mornings, nor the pleasant fragrance of the various perfumes and scented oils commo amongst the nobility.

His connections had kept him and his family alive but they are now meant to live their lives in a position that placed them barely above commoners.

Whatever paries he would make or attend to, now had to be things even commoners could attend, and his daughter if she was lucky might find a husband amongst them.

If she wasn't then perhaps she might find one amongst his subordinates, one of the adventurers, or maybe amongst the knights that had no loyalty to him.

Their new home was a home of the previous Highlord and the fact that it survive the last monster wave is proof of how strong it is, not that it helped his predecessor.

From now on, every waking moment will be dedicated to retaking the surrounding lands that have fallen under the control of the forest and the monsters.

In the past, it was ridiculous for a servant to even consider eating at the same table as their betters, and now here they are eating alongside him and his family.

The surrounding lords had already come and gone, the fact that they knew how these lands functioned helped them arrive at his home even before he and his family.

It was them and their servants that cleaned his new home and left whatever they could spare to help his men and his servants recover.

They just said their greetings, presented themselves, and left in the capital none of this would have ever happened but here it had witnessed it with his very eyes.

He had sent one of his most trusted knights to deliver a message to the knights stationed nearby, but the man returned saying that the knights said that they are currently too busy to greet him but would come when they had the chance.

The level of insubordination spoke more about what the knights thought of him and the crown than words ever could.

No, he had to stop himself, perhaps this was normal here and the knights were dealing with something and simply couldn't spare a single man at the moment.

This meant that he would have to go and meet with them himself a dangerous thing to do, because if the monsters didn't kill him, then bandits would.

This raised another issue could he leave his wife and daughter behind or would he risk taking them with him.

"Sir forgive me for interrupting your meal, but it seems that a number of the Knights have left their stations in the forest and are heading somewhere unknown" one of the scouts informed him

"Deserts?' he asked the scout

"No sir, just by looking at the men they appear to be fairly powerful, but they are going in what looks like random directions" the scout answered him

At first, it seemed as if the man hadn't answered his question, but that was just the man's experience showing itself.

He had said that the men appeared to be powerful, meaning that they possessed a great deal of experience and strength, perhaps magical or simply physical or perhaps both.

The fact that no one was trying to stop them meant that they had a reason for leaving their posts, even though the knights couldn't spare people at the moment and that was something troubling.

"Anything else?" he asked the scout

"Yes, several Elves have moved into the area, and" the man paused

"It seems a goddess has descended and one of the knight houses is protecting her at the moment"

The room fell silent a goddess had descended, to lie about such a thing meant that one's soul could never enter heaven, and yet the man had said such a thing.

"What else" he ordered

"The goddess is currently watching over the majority of the elves and an umber of the settlers who were attacked during the storm"

"The knights, are building homes for them at an impressive speed," the man said to him

Yet again another difference from things he had seen before, why would knights help peasants build homes for themselves? or for that matter help elves?

He understood what he had to do he had to meet with the knights and hear from them everything that was being kept from him, and there is no safer place for his family to be, than close to one of the gods.

 

[blueayes]

Lore past and present

From floor 80 and up all players without exception had to take part in the wars, not battles fullscale wars.

This was done so that only those that desperately wanted to leave Sword Art Online could do so, while everyone else either died or was so mentally broken that the other players had no choice but to either kill them or let them die.

This is when the gods that were watching the events inside Aincrad fully interfered, now by the rules of Aincrad they couldn't just enter the game so they did the next best thing, they fully reactivated all of the games defense systems.

This means that everything that kept the players from killing each other regained the majority of their power.

Plus the reawakening of the programs that kept the players from going insane.

This is the reason why all of the players aren't a bunch of xenophobes worried about being attacked by everyone they meet.

So on Floor number 80 all of the players gathered and had a massive first, it was here that both the floor guardians and the gods agreed, they would do all they could to ensure that the players survived the game and whatever dangers they might find.

This is the reason why the floor guardians are with the players inside the fortress.

The Gods knew that they couldn't directly interfere, so they altered some of Aincrads rules.

This caused all of the Human N.P.C's to begin a massive migration through the floors that had their Main Bosses already beaten, allowing the players to get equipment alt easier as well as being able to do more missions because they were needed.

During this great feast, the line between the gods and the player's world blurred allowing every player that had died to be present and all of the gods to stand next to the players that were still alive.

This would later be considered a ritual so sacred by the people in Goblin Slayers world that, that those that found out about it didn't know if they should confess about unintentionally joining their voices to what would later be called the choir.

The choir will one day be considered something akin to an extremely high-level spell that only those connected to the chatroom can do, as it allows every layer and tho granted access to the chatroom by the players or those that were given access and later granted access to someone else can perform

The only thing comparable to it is the union that the elves can do because every player and everyone granted access can feel what everyone else feels.

They can see the past of everyone in the feast or somewhere else, and meet the souls of those that have already died.

During this time the gods that took notice of the players and Aincrad are able to stand next to the players and offer comfort to them.

The spell is worthless for offense or defense, as its only purpose is so everyone can remember their past lives and give thanks to those that died along the way, as well as give those that haven't been born their blessings.

During this time everyone sings if they want, drink or eat if they want to, or simply lets out all of their emotions without restraint.

After this event, all of the players began a massive campaign of defeating monsters and acquiring crystals- items- potions and everything they could get their hands on.

Unfortunately, this means that they had a bunch of things that they couldn't use because they can't use magic and a lot of the things they got were magical.

All of these useless items are in something called the Vault inside the Fortress that the players are living in.

Now from floor 80 and up the wars that were fought only became more and more insane but thanks to the changes that the gods made, the defeated floor bosses and field bosses could be summoned to help the players.

As to how bad they got think Warhammer 40k, with the chaos gods either at the point of winning or have already won.

It's a wonder that anyone even survived, this is the reason why some of the players are so strong that they can kill gods because they gained items or became strong enough to do so.

The majority of the players, however, were either just regular soldiers that fight against the weaker opponents so that those strong enough could deal with the strongest monsters or helped acquire whatever the other players needed.

That meant going back down to do missions and regain said items.

This is the reason why the payers are so exhausted ad have just kept to themselves up until now, they were just tired of fighting and that hat did only did so to gather information or keep their minds off their current situation.
As to what happened to the Human N.P.C's they died alongside Aincrad, some did survive but they're mostly automatons without souls.

Why the monster survived is because of the deal with the floor bosses, the payers were the ones that mattered not the N.P.C's so all of the ones that survived were the ones that could create crystals or whatever the players needed, as for the monsters.

These were the first wave that began to attack the recently opened floors, to help weaken the floor's defenses

This is why a lot of the monsters survived and why a lot of them didn't, the gods didn't allow the truly evil ones to exist after the game was destroyed.

 

[blueayes]

one shot
She sat on the cool cave floor and kept her eyes on the people around her, and she wished that she was either tired enough or stupid enough to sleep like some of the men and women were already doing.

Half a year ago a flying fortress passed over the city, like every other gladiator she hadn't paid much thought to it, after all, she wasn't ever going to see what was inside it.

So she continued with her training.

A few months passed and the event was forgotten like all things are, that is until word about a failed siege began to spread, sieges happen every once and a while and weren't things to take notice of.

Either because the men died long before getting to their destination, because of the heat, the monsters, or because they became themselves were targeted by some horror no one knew about.

The sound of an infant briefly caught her attention, the infant's mother was spitting on her hand before rubbing the child's face as she tried to keep it clean.

Their destination wasn't far now.

A couple of months ago several slaves had rebelled and managed to escape, in the confusion some of the gladiators took their chances and tried to escape as well, most succeeded, and a couple of didn't.

She turned to look at several men lifting large rocks as they practiced how they would show their strength to the masters of the fortress.

The people inside the cave had gathered because of what they had heard, the details couldn't be relied upon, and if she was, to be honest, everything they had heard seemed like something a naive child would come up with.

Fields of grass so soft that when it touches your skin it tikes, the wind was so cool that when it touches your skin you can't help but to breath it in, as you don't want to waste a single moment.

There are beasts of all kinds just walking about without are and they are so plump that we ate for days, even the trees had so much fruit that we didn't want to leave.

The man telling the story laughed, you should have seen it, rivers filled with water, so clean we just stuck our heads in and drank, it was cold and tasted better than anything I've drunk in my entire life.

In the end, the siege failed because one of us felt like fighting anymore, I mean why would we, the man said to them

The man had said to them, ad when another gladiator said to the man why he even bothered coming back.

Isn't it obvious, the first ma said before a woman answered him.

She never bothered to get too close to the other gladiators because whenever she did, they would be forced to fight each other in the arena, she had learned to live her life separate from others, this way when she killed someone it wouldn't hurt.

She watched as women gave their final lessons to their daughters on how they should act, as to make themselves more appealing to the masters of the fortress

Everyone including herself was aiming for one of two things, either they would be looked upon by one of the fortress's inhabitants and be taken as a slave or be allowed to live outside of the towns and cities.

Normally slavery is someone everyone either wishes to avoid or escape and here they are hoping for it.

She looked down at herself and wondered if the scars she had received over the years would make her look unappealing to her new masters, or if they would seal her fate and she would be thrown into the arena to live what was left of her life as a gladiator.

She watched how most of the women practiced either standing a certain way or acted in a way to make themselves more sexually appealing and her attention changed to several gladiators practicing as they imagined themselves becoming guards.

She turned her attention back to the girl she had met before joining everyone who had heard about the mysterious kingdom.

Once again the girl was helping her mother this time she was helping the soulless woman stand up as the sun was already starting to come up.

It would be a couple of hours but it was better to start walking before the sun was out and they had no choice but to walk under the scorching heat.
]][[p[
They walked towards the destination their guide took them no one knew if the men were taking them to the place they told them about or if they were just walking to their deaths.

In this world, the latter was far more possible.

Her mother and herself are what's left of their town, if there are any other people left they're either being worked to death or...it was better if she didn't think about it.

She had approached the Half-Elf woman because they are the same half-elves, it didn't mean anything, but they were currently surrounded by all sorts of people that might decide that they didn't like their elf halves.

Elves are by far the most wicked creatures that existed in the world, next to defilers.

Her mother was raised in a town that told away everyday farming and she had received the luxury of being able to grow up in a house with both a mother and father, that did care for her.

Every once in a while the Elves would come to their town to trade and her mother had fallen in love with one.

She wished her mother had never met her father.

Like all elves, her father ran the moment danger showed itself and she was just a small girl when she watched him run away.

The beast never bothered to turn back, he, no it just ran.

She watched how the townsmen fought the raiders and died protecting their loved ones.

Her grandfather died that day, the man was nowhere near young, but he wasn't old either.

That day her mother died inside, and ever since she did her best to keep the woman safe.

They walked for hours and when the sun had finally reached the point that it could and would cook them alive if they didn't find somewhere to hide from the sun's heat, they began to hear the sound of something moving in the distance.

The group kept quiet less they catch the attention of whatever horror was moving closeby.

Yet their guides, yes there are more of them now, the men only began to walk fasted ad she watched as they started to laugh when they saw what was making the sound.

Hesitantly everyone else followed the men's lead, and they were met with a sight that both filled them with fear and aww.

A massive centipede-like creature was spinning its skeletal body, creating a dust storm that hid it from view.

The only reason any of them could even see the creature's body was that whenever it stopped spinning the creature leaped forward and slammed into the ground.

When the dust storm calmed itself because the creature had moved on, she noticed that something had begun to follow the path where the creature had been.

When the wind blew, both herself and the rest of the people with her recognized the scent.

It was water, water was flowing into the long-dead earth, that greedily drank it as if it was someone that was about to die from thirst.

Who knows perhaps the world was dying and, the water that had been brought by the creature was helping it regain some of its life.

"Quickly," their guides said to them as they pointed at a black dot in the distance.

The men guided them to the recently created river but warned them not to drink from it.

The sun is on top of them now and several men and women nearly drowned when they fell into the river when they tried to use the cold muddy water to relieve themselves from the heat.

For whatever reason, their guides wouldn't allow them to go any further unless they help the fools.

Soon, the oldest and youngest amongst them had fallen and their guides ordered everyone to carry them.

"They're watching us," their guides said to them, as she looked around she didn't see anyone, but she helped carry the half-dead corpses when it was her turn.

Everyone walked and as they walked they began to notice that the water had started to change color, at first it was thick with mud, then it was a filthy brown, then a strange green, now it was was crystal clear.

'Everyone drink as much as you want" their guides said to them before sticking their heads into the river and immediately lifting themselves out.

She watched as the men gasped with delight, and even as the men smiled at the women that were accompanying them, the crowd around her threw themselves at the river and greedily drank from it.

She went down to get a hand full of water to give to her mother and when she returned to her spot where she had left there, she found that her mother was gone.

She began to look around in panic, then she found her mother close by walking almost as if she was in a daze.

She followed her mother and found herself looking at a field of green grass.

She ran to her mother's side and watched as the woman reached into a small hole in the ground and brought out a hand full of water.

The grass had started as small patches that didn't do anything t stop them from touching the hot dirt, then it was in such abundance that it could be considered a floor or a carpet.

She followed her mother, granted she could have already reached the woman, but she was already having difficulty believing if what she was seeing was real.

She watched as her mother stood in front of a tree and reached to pluck a fruit that hung from its branches, and as the woman bit into it, she watched as life returned to her mother's eyes.

She watched as her mother turned to look at her and for the first time in years the woman smiled.

"Did we die?" is this heaven"?' her mother asked her

She was bout to answer when the slow grumbling and the moans of massive beasts reached her ears and she felt her eyes widen at the sight that lay beyond where her mother stood.

Titanic beasts walked the lands, so plump that just one could feed a city for a month, not to mention everything that could be made from its bones and skin.

She turned to look at the people that had come with her and her mother and to her surprise, the woman she had met before joining everyone else stood next to her.

Yet the woman's eyes were locked on something, she nearly screamed at the sight before her, not just one but several dragons watched their surrounding, but ignored the people near them as they ignorantly walked alongside the river towards wherever their guides were taking them.

"Guards," the half-elf woman said

"The dragons are keeping their eyes out for danger," the half-elf woman said

The sounds of me and women cheering caught their attention and they noticed that men and women began to fight amongst themselves, but by the way, they moved none of them meant to do any harm to each other.

She knew what they were thinking, after all, it was the same thought, the half-elf, and her mother shad.

They had found paradise and would be dammed if they were forced to leave it.

It was time to get back to the group, everyone knew that there is safety in numbers.

"Come on," she said to her mother and she waited for the woman to take her hand, but to her surprise, the woman didn't move instead she turned around and pointed at something.

She felt her eye widen and her breath left her, the moment she saw what her mother was pointing at.

A massive figure white figure raised its hand and made rainfall around them, the rain didn't touch her or anyone walking alongside the river, instead, it touched the dry world that was just out of reach from her current location.

Sword art online - Dark Sun Crossover

 

[blueayes]

He nodded and signaled and the ma took it as a signal and he left the dining room, once again he sat alone with his thoughts, even though he was in a room filled with people, he felt entirely alone.

His mind was quickly filled with fear and worry, too much had happened in too short a time for him to properly process it.

Truth be told he should hate the king, but he knew that the man hated himself when he gave his verdict and sentenced both him and his family to this accursed place.

For years his family's estate as well as their lads and positions were envied by lords and ladies who only cared about their positions amongst the nobility.

For generations his family had fought off one assassination attempt after another, if someone wasn't trying to destroy their reputation, someone else was simply trying to kill them.

On one hand, his family had exchanged this kind of life for one similar t it, now instead of having to watch out for humans and other civilized creatures that attempted to destroy them, now they just had to watch out for the save orc or whatever horrors live in these lands.

He took another spoon full of the stew his servants had cooked and looked toward his wife and daughter, both were so close yet they seemed as if they were words apart from him and each other.

His wife and daughter shared their appearance meaning that if someone looked at his daughter they would see a younger version of his wife and if they looked at his wife they would see the woman his daughter would eventually become.

Both his wife and daughter have light pink skin and long blond hair, his daughter unlike his wife had inherited his mother's slightly plump nature, but it was combined with her mother's side of the family that always kept her thin.

This meant that his daughter would always have a rather enticing figure, of course, she lacked her mother's natural grace but that is something she could and would eventually learn.

A lot of good that something like that would do for her now.

His stomach twisted inside him, he had just barely managed to keep his family safe, and it had cost him everything else.

Right now as he and his family, not to mention his servants and the men swore to him ate or cursed their circumstances the people responsible for doing this to them are celebrating.

Generation after generation lost because he couldn't bear the thought of his daughter being given to a lord whose cruelty was only hidden behind a thin veil that he used to hide whatever atrocity he committed.

His daughter was to web the man, this was what several members of the kings' court had decreed and he pleaded to the king to reconsider.

The king wasn't present when the decision was made because he had more important things to do, but when he heard about the decision the king flew into a rage that for a moment he believed that the man would have stormed out of the room and killed every member of the court.

The problem was that the decision had already been made, and if the king changed it without a good reason then, who would trust the king ever again.

Who could trust a man who didn't stand by his words, granted that the king hadn't said it, but anything the court said was as if the king had said it himself?

That was when the king banished him and his family to the frontier, he allowed him to take every single thing that had any worth, from both his families lands and home.

He didn't doubt that the people responsible for doing this to him had their days numbered and truth be told he was relieved to not have to always watch behind his back for would-be assassins.

If only it hadn't cost him his daughter's smile.

He watched his daughter and listened to the silence that lingered around her.

She used to smile so brightly that it drew people to her, and despite the fact people often told her she talked too much, she spoke anyway.

Now her smile was gone and she didn't even say a single word.

His wife despite doing her best to remain strong brushed away a tear every once in a while.

She use to be someone both men and women desired to stand next to and if they had any luck, something that he had once perhaps they could share her bed.

"Finish eating, we're going to pay a visit to the knights," he said to his family, his words were loud enough, so the men listening could hear them and prepare the horses.

 

[blueayes]

When the king ordered him to head to the frontier it was both an act of mercy and cold logic for this way both he and his family would remain safe, but at the same time, the man allowed him to strip every ounce of worth that was inside his old home.

Now whoever inherited his family's lands would have to do their best and keep them as fertile as his men did....his men.

How many of the people in those groups had been apar of the groups that had been attacked, what horrors did they see? he asked himself quietly, though he never said it out loud lest he add to his family's pain.

As his family and the servants ate, he thought about the knights that were stationed near his new home, on a horse the trip to the fortress took less than three hours.

Fortunately several of his men can cast a spell whose name ha can't recall at the moment, regardless he knew what it did.

The men would chant a short spell and nearly all of the weight that was on the horses left the animals so they could run faster than they should.

Meaning that a journey that should have taken three hours was reduced to thirty minutes.

The first to finish their meals are the servants and they immediately excused themselves, next was his wife, then his daughter until only he remained.

He watched as both his wife and his daughter left to prepare themselves for the journey, he didn't have to change considering that he had been forced to change as soon as he arrived.

The armor he wore was given to him by his father and just like both his father's and grandfather's armor it was carefully polished so that anyone looking at it could see their reflections.

The chainmail underneath it as well as the extra padded clothing underneath that served to add extra layers of protection.

Up until recently, his family's armors' only purpose was to serve as clothes for him to wear during special ceremonies.

The armor covered him from head to toe when he wore his helmet, he walked to the front of his new home and waited for his wife and daughter to finish changing.

Unlike his men and himself, they had remained inside the fortress and helped the servants prepare their new home so it was pleasing to their eyes.

He watched as both his wife and daughter exited their new home and for a moment his breath left him, both women wore gray armor that had their edges painted gold, to emphasize the women's curves.

Unlike himself, neither of them wore a helmet because it would ruin their hair.

Judging by how his men had their collective tungs hanging both women are a sight to be seen, one that he was certain would remain in his men's minds during their time alone.

The moment his men cast their spell they made on their way towards the fortress, thankfully nothing decided that they were a perfect meal, or decided that they were weak enough to attack.

He did his best to ignore all of the oddities around him that increased the closer that he got to the fortress, some trees had faces and their eyes turned to look at him and his men when they rode past them.

Packs of wolves that seemed to e made out of the very trees around them, the fur covering their bodies were something like grass or moss, while their bodies were made of collected branches or tree trunks, while their faces and paws seemed to look like a wolf's, they were an unusually pale color.

A strange ape-like creature watched them as they approached the fortress and to his surprise, he found what looked like a town in the process of being born.

He felt his blood burn as he looked at the children listening to their instructors, as both the men and women taught them mathematics and the basics of swordsmanship.

Forgeborn worked alongside, his mind stopped working, there's a blue dragon carrying materials around like a trained mule.

A single dragon could easily turn the tide of a battle, but the beasts are temperamental so their loyalty isn't ever guaranteed, for if a soldier were to accidentally insult the dragon, it would turn on its allies and kill them without hesitation.

Yet here was an admittedly young blue dragon, happily helping the knights who are repairing the fortress.

Like the rest of the nobility, he was surprised to know that the kingdom had knights stationed in the frontier, it made sense after all, but considering their lack of success in preventing the destruction of the various farming towns and villages.

If hewer, to be honest, none of the nobility nor himself for that matter believed in the men's skill.

When he heard about their existence, his first thought as well the thoughts of many nobles around him, was that the knights must be those that failed to become knights or are trouble makers that were sent away for one reason or another.

People that were just like him, people who were discarded by everyone they knew.

He took a deep breath and spoke loudly

"I am the High Lord appointed to these lands and I wish to speak to whoever is in charge!" he said and he watched as everyone turned to look at him for a moment and then went back to what they were doing.

Such disrespect, he thought to himself.

The moment he dismounted his horse and walked towards a nearby woman carrying a crate filled with raw iron, he found that he felt dozens of predatory eyes n him.

"I wish" he began

'I know, I heard you. If you want to talk to the guild leaders they're inside, but you came at a bad time" the woman said to him as she pointed at the entrance of the fortress.

"I'll need an escort," he said to her

'"just walk inside, someone will guide you, look around I can just leave," she said to him

She was right, the fortress was being repaired and it looked as if its repair would take a few months perhaps even years, it was clear to him that the girl just wanted him to leave her alone.

He smirked, fine if she wanted to play it this way, he would play with her and waste both his and her time.

"You said this was a bad time, I am the High Lord and I must keep these lands secure and working as best as they can"

"Tell me what's going on," he said to her

The girl looked at him ads closed her eyes.

'The guild leaders are gone, they left to take care of some things, they don't just do that"

'The guild leaders are some of our strongest people, we have a couple of people that are just as strong as them, but it hurts when we lose just one, but a whole group just left" she said to him with a grim voice.

"Their second in commands are in charge now..... somethings happening, it might not happen fr a while, but its coming," she said to him

His lie detection didn't activate, this meant that everything the girl had just said to him was true, but if the guild leaders are as strong as the girl implied and judging by the creatures under the knights, they were, then he needed to know whatever is happening.

"My wife and daughter are accompanying me and my men, can I trust you to find someone to guide them and keep them from accidentally hurting themselves while I'm here," he said to her, the girl looked past him

He watched as the girl lifted her hand and without chanting, she made a window that was made of blue light appear in front of her.

He watched as the girl pressed something and soon a forgeborn walked up to them.

"Take this home, I need to help the High Lords family," she said to the creature who nodded at the girl's words