Post by Silenco on May 10, 2010 15:20:38 GMT -5
Mercenary barracks, somewhere in Poeta…
The fading evening light illuminated the forms of three men seated around a small wooden table. Empty bottles littered the table’s surface, testifying to the good mood that the men were in, supported by the peals of laughter that resonated throughout the room.
“Guh, hahaha! Come on, Vradek, that can’t be the only story you’ve got!” roared one of the men.
“No, really, Aricus, that was the last one!” replied the one called Vradek, finishing off the last of his drink.
“ Ah, well. Maybe Toydars here has some more stories, don’t you, Toydars?” bellowed Aricus.
“Hmph. I might have one or two…” mumbled the brooding Toydars, as he pondered the request.
“Ah, I got one. Either of you two heard about the mad teacher? No? Well, the rumor goes like this; there’s this professor, right? By day he’s teaching regular classes and stuff, all normal. But, at night, he did experiments, on Aether, how to use it, et cetera. This maniac wanted to become a Daeva, without the whole going to Sanctum part of it!
Now, he started out small, testing on small animals and plants, but that wasn’t enough for him. He starts kidnapping people, first children, and then adults! Crazy bastard actually finds out how to drain the Aether out of a living body! Murdered hundreds of people before anyone caught on.
Finally, the townspeople rally a big mob to kill him, once they find out that he was the one who did it. They get to his house just as he decides to try to give himself the powers of a Daeva. Problem is, he couldn’t control the power, and burnt the whole place down, no survivors, no town, nothing!
It gets better. People say that about a day after this happens, the Guardians themselves come down and take this man away. Either that, or he burnt himself up with everyone else. Either way, no one ever saw him again.”
Aricus and Vradek stared at Toydars, agape, for a few seconds before regaining their composures.
“No way, that’s twisted…” murmured Aricus.
“Damn, that’s messed up.” commented Vradek.
Toydars crossed his arms and nodded. “Aye, it is. I’ll bet a fair bit of kinah that neither of you have anything to top that.”
“Nope, not I.” grunted Vradek.
“What about you, rookie?” asked Toydars.
“Me? Well, I don’t know…maybe I do.” replied Aricus.
Vradek excitedly growled, “Well go on, let’s hear it, then!”
Aricus took a deep breath.
“Well, it goes like this. You two ever hear of the Cities of Blood? Didn’t think so. They only existed until a few years ago. See, there were these two cities, Tuh, uh, Tselin? Yeah, that was it, Tselin, and the other one was…Janeir, yeah. Now these cities had a serious bone to pick with each other, somethin’ about some noble insulting another a damn long time ago, and they had been at war for a real long time.
Tselin was runnin’ out of soldiers, real quick. Hell, they could’ve hired grunts like us to fight, but they had some damn problem with it. Pride, or national integrity or some crap. Anyways, they started getting desperate. No soldiers in a war’s a bad thing, you know?
Then the government thought of something. I don’t know what they were thinking, but they tried to make more soldiers without the soldiers. Crazy bastards took the kids of every family within reach, and tried to make them soldiers. Took ‘em right out of their parents’ arms, gave them swords, “trained” them, and sent them to die against armored troops.
But wait, it gets worse. There was a couple, not many, that actually survived. They got good at killing people bigger than them. They were rewarded. Fucking were made to cover themselves in the blood of their enemies and drink it!
That’s pretty much it. The two ripped each other to shreds and burnt each other to the ground. Nobody was left alive. Sometimes there’s a rumor that a survivor was seen in some far off place like Eltnen or somethin’. Usually turns out to be just that; a rumor. Sometimes they say it’s one of the children, and they’re all possessed or somethin’ like that. Those I hope are rumors.
So, what do y’all think of that?”
Toydars was struggling to regain his composure, Vradek just paled.
All of a sudden, Toydars spoke up.
“Hey…that sounds a lot like that new guy we just picked up…”
Aricus looked thoughtful for a moment before replying.
“Y’know, it kinda does…”
Vradek shook his head.
“No way, ye said it yerself, Aricus, there were no surviviors! But…”
“Let’s ask.” rumbled Toydars.
The group’s gaze shifted to a young man sitting in the far corner of the barracks, sharpening a sword. The trio stood carefully from their table and cautiously approached the youth. Aricus was the first to speak.
“U-Um, hey there, um what was it…” he nervously stuttered.
“Silenco.” monotoned the youth, never taking his eyes off the blade he was working on.
“Right, Silenco. Well, if we’re gonna be fighting together from here on out, I kinda thought that we should get to know each other a bit more, right? I’m-“
“Aricus. Behind you is Vradek. Behind him, Toydars.” interrupted Silenco, pausing his work to stare at Aricus.
Aricus felt his breath catch. He couldn’t see anything, no spark of life, nothing in the youth’s eyes. The eyes of a corpse gazed back at him. Aricus struggled to get the next sentence in his head into words.
“S-So, Silenco, u-um, is it all right if I call you Sil?”
“No.”
“O-Oh, sorry. W-Where are you f-from, Silenco?”
“Vihkr.”
“Where’s t-that?”
“Small town. South of here.”
“I-I see. Um…”
Toydars took the moment to clear his throat and interject.
“Er, um, I have to do something, somewhere else. See you lot later”
Like a chain reaction, the departure of Toydars prompted the other two to excuse themselves. Each of them had the same plan, to drink the sight of the young man’s dead eyes away.
Silenco watched the trio leave silently.
“Vihkr. Just a small town on the outskirts of Tselin.” He whispered too softly to be heard, resuming his sharpening.
He’d heard every word.
The fading evening light illuminated the forms of three men seated around a small wooden table. Empty bottles littered the table’s surface, testifying to the good mood that the men were in, supported by the peals of laughter that resonated throughout the room.
“Guh, hahaha! Come on, Vradek, that can’t be the only story you’ve got!” roared one of the men.
“No, really, Aricus, that was the last one!” replied the one called Vradek, finishing off the last of his drink.
“ Ah, well. Maybe Toydars here has some more stories, don’t you, Toydars?” bellowed Aricus.
“Hmph. I might have one or two…” mumbled the brooding Toydars, as he pondered the request.
“Ah, I got one. Either of you two heard about the mad teacher? No? Well, the rumor goes like this; there’s this professor, right? By day he’s teaching regular classes and stuff, all normal. But, at night, he did experiments, on Aether, how to use it, et cetera. This maniac wanted to become a Daeva, without the whole going to Sanctum part of it!
Now, he started out small, testing on small animals and plants, but that wasn’t enough for him. He starts kidnapping people, first children, and then adults! Crazy bastard actually finds out how to drain the Aether out of a living body! Murdered hundreds of people before anyone caught on.
Finally, the townspeople rally a big mob to kill him, once they find out that he was the one who did it. They get to his house just as he decides to try to give himself the powers of a Daeva. Problem is, he couldn’t control the power, and burnt the whole place down, no survivors, no town, nothing!
It gets better. People say that about a day after this happens, the Guardians themselves come down and take this man away. Either that, or he burnt himself up with everyone else. Either way, no one ever saw him again.”
Aricus and Vradek stared at Toydars, agape, for a few seconds before regaining their composures.
“No way, that’s twisted…” murmured Aricus.
“Damn, that’s messed up.” commented Vradek.
Toydars crossed his arms and nodded. “Aye, it is. I’ll bet a fair bit of kinah that neither of you have anything to top that.”
“Nope, not I.” grunted Vradek.
“What about you, rookie?” asked Toydars.
“Me? Well, I don’t know…maybe I do.” replied Aricus.
Vradek excitedly growled, “Well go on, let’s hear it, then!”
Aricus took a deep breath.
“Well, it goes like this. You two ever hear of the Cities of Blood? Didn’t think so. They only existed until a few years ago. See, there were these two cities, Tuh, uh, Tselin? Yeah, that was it, Tselin, and the other one was…Janeir, yeah. Now these cities had a serious bone to pick with each other, somethin’ about some noble insulting another a damn long time ago, and they had been at war for a real long time.
Tselin was runnin’ out of soldiers, real quick. Hell, they could’ve hired grunts like us to fight, but they had some damn problem with it. Pride, or national integrity or some crap. Anyways, they started getting desperate. No soldiers in a war’s a bad thing, you know?
Then the government thought of something. I don’t know what they were thinking, but they tried to make more soldiers without the soldiers. Crazy bastards took the kids of every family within reach, and tried to make them soldiers. Took ‘em right out of their parents’ arms, gave them swords, “trained” them, and sent them to die against armored troops.
But wait, it gets worse. There was a couple, not many, that actually survived. They got good at killing people bigger than them. They were rewarded. Fucking were made to cover themselves in the blood of their enemies and drink it!
That’s pretty much it. The two ripped each other to shreds and burnt each other to the ground. Nobody was left alive. Sometimes there’s a rumor that a survivor was seen in some far off place like Eltnen or somethin’. Usually turns out to be just that; a rumor. Sometimes they say it’s one of the children, and they’re all possessed or somethin’ like that. Those I hope are rumors.
So, what do y’all think of that?”
Toydars was struggling to regain his composure, Vradek just paled.
All of a sudden, Toydars spoke up.
“Hey…that sounds a lot like that new guy we just picked up…”
Aricus looked thoughtful for a moment before replying.
“Y’know, it kinda does…”
Vradek shook his head.
“No way, ye said it yerself, Aricus, there were no surviviors! But…”
“Let’s ask.” rumbled Toydars.
The group’s gaze shifted to a young man sitting in the far corner of the barracks, sharpening a sword. The trio stood carefully from their table and cautiously approached the youth. Aricus was the first to speak.
“U-Um, hey there, um what was it…” he nervously stuttered.
“Silenco.” monotoned the youth, never taking his eyes off the blade he was working on.
“Right, Silenco. Well, if we’re gonna be fighting together from here on out, I kinda thought that we should get to know each other a bit more, right? I’m-“
“Aricus. Behind you is Vradek. Behind him, Toydars.” interrupted Silenco, pausing his work to stare at Aricus.
Aricus felt his breath catch. He couldn’t see anything, no spark of life, nothing in the youth’s eyes. The eyes of a corpse gazed back at him. Aricus struggled to get the next sentence in his head into words.
“S-So, Silenco, u-um, is it all right if I call you Sil?”
“No.”
“O-Oh, sorry. W-Where are you f-from, Silenco?”
“Vihkr.”
“Where’s t-that?”
“Small town. South of here.”
“I-I see. Um…”
Toydars took the moment to clear his throat and interject.
“Er, um, I have to do something, somewhere else. See you lot later”
Like a chain reaction, the departure of Toydars prompted the other two to excuse themselves. Each of them had the same plan, to drink the sight of the young man’s dead eyes away.
Silenco watched the trio leave silently.
“Vihkr. Just a small town on the outskirts of Tselin.” He whispered too softly to be heard, resuming his sharpening.
He’d heard every word.