The Warrior's Tale

[12.22.99] » by James Mitchell

Ashton looked up from the dusty path which connected Cross, his home and the capital of the continent, with the dusty mining town of Salva. He was near his destination, having long since passed by the side roads leading northeast to Herlie and northwest to Clik, the important ports of Cross Continent, but nonetheless he was exhausted and would have traded his sword in for a bed, or even just a horse to ride the remainder of his journey.

A few hours passed, and still no horse appeared, much to Ashton's chagrin, but what did appear were storm clouds coming in from the west. "What in the name of the Warrior of Light is going on with this weather?" Exclaimed Ashton, citing the popular myth of the coming of a powerful savior which permeated the culture not only of Cross, but of Lacour and El, the two other continents in the world of Expel.

As the storm began to gain momentum, Ashton began seriously to doubt whether the adventure awaiting him would be worth such a journey. He had heard talk of a huge dragon taking residence in the Salva Drift, the most profitable mine on Expel, and had rather abruptly decided to leave Cross in search of excitement and profit. "After all, I'm a sword-for-hire," Ashton mused, "I can't be a professional warrior if all I do is hang around town!" He had, of course, tried before, there were many opportunities for a young man in Cross to gain fame and fortune, and have great adventure in the mean time. However, every quest he undertook, every problem he tried to solve, there seemed to be something that went wrong, and it was almost never his fault! How could he plan for freak thunder storms, previously undiscovered explosive powder reserves, or a simple Press spell backfiring and causing a mild, but expensive, avalanche?

It was near noon when he finally arrived in Salva, the brooding clouds, light rain and dusty streets would have been picturesque, had they been on a postcard, as it was, however, he took an exhausted breath and went into a prodigious coughing fit as he entered the town gates. "You alright there, traveler?" Asked a worried-looking older woman relaxing under an overhang, who then proceeded to wait patiently for Ashton to regain control of himself.

"Oh (cough), right, yes I'm (cough) a warrior here looking for work, do y-(cough)-do you know of anything?"

The woman looked at him dubiously "Are you sure you're up to it? You sound like you can't even battle the dust, you're clothes are drenched, and pardon me, but your swords are looking a little rusty."

These comments did nothing to relieve Ashton's mood of general annoyance, even less so because of their accuracy. So it was with considerable indignation, or what would have been considerable indignation had he not collapsed into another coughing fit when a veritable tornado of dust went into his lungs, that he drew himself up in what he rather fancied was a heroic soldier-of-fortune type stance and declared "I'll be fine, I'm just in this condition to… equal the odds for the enemy, after all, I wouldn't want to completely dominate them. Speaking of which, what exactly is this dragon? And who's my employer to be?"

The woman seemed slightly reassured and replied "You'll probably be hired by the mayor's son Alen, and the enemy is a huge two-headed dragon that's taken over the Salva Drift, one head breathes fire, one ice, and both are deadlier than any normal creature on Cross Continent."

Ashton politely thanked the woman, and moved forward through the dirt paths, and it was only when he was out of earshot that he allowed himself to mutter "You know, the swords are looking kind of rusty…"

Dank, dark, and dusty, such was the Salva Drift, but the promise of glory was enough to keep Ashton moving on through the caves, slaying the bizarre creatures which took residence there. Every once in a while he would hear what sounded like footsteps behind him, and he thought he saw shadows lurking when he turned around, however, he disregarded these as figments of his imagination.

When Ashton reached a wide cave where stalactites formed a natural obstacle course, he began to smell the powerful sulfur scent of dragon, and feel the heat radiating off of the creature. It's close, he thought, and so is victory, he slowly, quietly moved about the obstructions of the cave, looking to catch a glimpse of the great beast which resided within.

Suddenly, without warning, a lumbering form arose from the shadows in the corner of his vision, a gigantic serpentine nemesis with one head blue and lithe, the other scarlet and dangerous. First the blue head snapped forward, within inches of Ashton's face, and then retracted, allowing the red to attack. He parried the blow with his left sword, then brought the right in a shimmering arc to connect with the beast's exposed left neck. His short sword made contact, and the dragon shrieked in pain and outrage, a shriek which would have been cut short had Ashton not been distracted by the arrival of a group of people behind him. These must have been the shapes he had seen in the shadows of the cave! It was a pity they hadn't arrived sooner, for the cave was too narrow to allow them access to the snapping dragon.

He heard the visitors making the same realization, "We can't move forward, its too narrow." A deep voice intoned, which was followed by a reply in a sultry, extremely female voice "We should help somehow, maybe we can give him moral support!" With this intent, three voices, the first two and another, higher female tone began shouting words of encouragement, such as "You can do it!" and "Keep fighting!" All the while, of course, Ashton was engaged in an actual attempt to defeat the azure and scarlet serpent before him, and after having missed several strikes due to the grating noise coming from behind him, he decided to confront these well-intentioned newcomers.

Ashton turned to the visitors and said "Look, I appreciate it, but can you keep it down, I'm trying to fight this dragon here!" And just as he was about to turn back to face the menace, there was a white flash and the dragon was gone, not a trace of either red or blue could be found. "Where did he go?" He asked "What happened to the dragon?" The visitors proved to be of no more help now than before, however, as they just stood transfixed, staring at something behind him. He spun, intent on catching the dragon, but all that lay there was darkness and dust. "What in the-" Ashton stopped as he realized that he felt a scaly presence on his back and heard a soft crooning rasp "Awrooo…"

"You there!" He called to the visitors, a young blond man dressed in bizarre clothing, a younger blue-haired female, and an attractive older female dressed in a heraldic mage's garb. "The… the… dragons are on my back aren't they?"

Three feeble nods. "They look like their coming out of you, like you've been possessed or something!"

The young female said, and then the older sorceress added "You have indeed been possessed by these serpents, for they were not mere beasts, but incarnations of powerful demons, though they do not seem to have a malicious intent."

That last comment was too much for Ashton "No malicious intent?! They've practically taken over my body, and they've completely invaded my privacy, and it was all your fault because you distracted me! Will you take responsibility for this? I mean look at me, I make a living based on my repute as a warrior, and now I'm a walking proof of failure, I'm damaged goods!"

Though they did not seem to appreciate being told they were the cause of his misfortune, the visitors did agree to take responsibility. "Very well," the male said "we'll go with you until we find a way to remove the dragons, I'm Claude" He said, and then, indicating the young girl, "this is Rena, and finally this is Celine." As he indicated the seductive sorceress.

Ashton drew himself up and replied "A pleasure to meet you all, though its a pity it couldn't be under different circumstances, I'm Ashton Anchors, sword-for-hire." Though his over the top name for his profession didn't impress them, Ashton felt that he could get along with these people anyway, after all, they owed him quite a favor for infesting him with demon dragons.

Outside by the old, rusting gates to Salva, the group stopped and consulted. "Where are you headed anyway?" Ashton asked, and Claude replied "Well, we're investigating the Sorcery Globe, hopefully we can do some good."

Impressive task, Ashton thought "I'm not headed anywhere in particular, myself," he said "Except to get rid of these dragons."

With this Celine spoke up "I think we should head to Mars, the elder has plenty of tomes of knowledge, several about possession and demons." Everyone agreed and the plan was set, with only Rena giving dissent "Wait, before we go, we should name the dragons." She interjected, as the rest rolled their eyes, "Well," Ashton said "You can name them, I suppose they are traveling with us as well." "Great! I'll call this one with the cute big eyes Gyoro, and the one with the cute droopy eyes Ururun."

"Awrooo!" "Awroo!" The dragons trilled in delight, while Ashton sighed in annoyance.

"Ok, let's head out for Mars." The other gave agreement and pushed forward out of town, Ashton was immediately preceded by Celine, wearing the sorceress' sultry raiment over her decidedly well crafted body. This might not be so bad after all…