Torien

The weak light of the stars of this new world hardly pierced the shadows of the skeletal forest as Torien, first of all those who remained, stalked in silence. Behind him came his retinue, those of the other houses who had submitted to his peoples claim, who served with the greatest of humility and honor. Wrapped in the solemnity of their task, none offered their voice in song or pleasantry, for their task was of the most vile. To bring back oath breakers.

The shock of the new world had rattled their people, Torien left with none but a pair of his own brethren from the House Solaris. The others who had been brought across the void had at first lamented their disappearance, then followed Torien’s orders after the passage of three days of mourning. Aside from the oath breakers, the House of Lunaris Minor had rejected the rightful claim that Torien had pressed upon them. Sulian had led two score of her kin, arguing that their oaths had been presented to Lunarion herself, that as long as her light fell upon them they would honor their oaths. Since Lunarion no longer graced them with her light, they were free of their oaths.

Torien had to hold his anger at bay at his older sister's words, her crafty lies weaving traitorous thoughts upon those of her house. He regretted not breaking the train of thought that Sulian had led them through. There had been pressing foes coming from all angles, the fierce cold biting at them, the monsters from the sea every night, and then the traitors. They had abandoned Torien, right as they secured the last of the keeps, securing their place as a refuge against the beasts.

He had loosed the trackers of House Bosque to find them; and now after seven days, they had finally found them. To the East, away from the sea, through the long grass of the plains, finally to this desiccated forest. Two days had passed in tracking his sibling and his wayward subjects, each day stoking his wroth till it neared an all consuming heat that emanated from his chest. Those of the lower houses spoke only when spoken to, fearing his rage as they grew closer to their prey. He would have to apologize later, for it was his place as leader of this remnant to show the superiority of house Solaris, to reaffirm the right of rule. His displays of emotions would just cloud the subject of their oaths further, providing a fertilizer for his sisters' insidious lies.

First though, Sulian would be put into her place.

“That is far enough!” Sulian’s clarion call rang across the forest. Torien had grown so lost in his own thoughts, he had failed to notice her presence in the deepest of the shadows. She emerged as his party stopped. She had not visibly changed in the time since she had forsaken him. The same amber eyes, pale lavender skin, the black tattoos across her cheekbones noting her ancestry, her long ears tipped with rings of iron. Tall and lithe, the spear in her hand dripped blood as she squared her shoulders and stared Torien down.

“Sister. Enough of this foolishness. You must return now.”

“I renounce your claims of blood. For too long we have served, now we are free of oaths taken under duress.”

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“What happens when we return, sister? Once we walk back through our mother’s halls again? Will you spit in her face as you have mine?” Torien spoke with a growing anger. How could she abandon her oaths? Her people? Him?

“We shall cross that bridge when we meet it. For now, the House Lunaris stands for once without the bonds of oaths. We shall no longer be servants in the halls we have built from blood and sweat and bone.”

“Did you practice this speech?” Torien hissed in rage. He tugged at the clasps to the rich red cape he wore. Freeing it from his shoulders he passed it to one of the Bosque elves, before turning back to his sister. She was a ferocious fighter, one of the many that his mother had birthed from the House Lunaris, raised to be the loyal guardians of her heirs. To see her in open rebellion, when she was supposed to be guarding him, even daring to raise her weapon at him!

“You will come back, either bound or by your own free will sister.”

“I will be free or I will be dead. There is no other recourse.”

“Foolish.” Torien pulled forth the sword he had taken from slaying one of the commanders. The blue sword was of inferior make, though compared to the truly inadequate weapons that the fort generated for them, it was a masterpiece. His people had left behind these sorts of weapons in antiquity, relying on their magitech weapons. Torien was glad of all the classes his mother had forced him to take to keep true to his people's roots. When they had united their world with the sword and sorcery. While it was true his sister was skilled, so was he. He was of the greater house, regardless that they shared a parent. He would triumph here and now.

Torien moved in a blur of movement, his recent stat points after reaching level sixteen were still not comfortable to him. His initial strike had been aimed for his sister's knee, instead he overshot her and split a tree in two. The pathetic excuse to arboreal species exploded in a shower of splinters as his sister melded into the shadows. A true acolyte of the shadow arts, she emerged behind him, her spear aiming for his low back. Torien leapt straight up, eight feet in the air, twisting to land cat light on his feet, blue steel slashing Sulian’s left arm.

She faded into the shadows before his blow could land. Torien felt a growl of anger burbling at the back of his throat as he chased after his sister. She would appear at odd angles, the spear flashing from the deep shadows. His superior physical stats kept him from being skewered, but as the fight dragged on, he began to grow desperate. His life wasn’t in danger; her speed and skill could not match his own and her determination could not bridge that gap. He was being embarrassed in front of his oathsworn. With every parry, with every missed strike, with every step backward, his oathsworn saw Sulian defying her oaths. The order of their world. Defying him.

“ENOUGH!” Torien raised his free hand up, drawing upon his bloodline's strength. Light flowed, heat bloomed, shadow was banished. The power of the sun in the palm of his hand. Sulian cried out in pain as she was yanked free of the shadows she had been slinking through. Her amber eyes glowed in the reflected light from the sun orb in his hand.

“You have lost Torien. Flee back to your fort and leave us be,” Sulian spoke calmly even as she stared him down. Torien looked around the clearing they had been fighting in, the time having escaped him as they danced around fighting each other. Of course it had been a delaying tactic for the others to flee while she held him back. She had been the only one of the Lunaris who had leveled before they had fled.

Once they had discovered how leveling worked, how they could gain strength through the slaying of the monsters, Torien and his two fell House Solaris members had had the beasts funneled toward them. Their levels were far higher than anyone's else's, their magic had soared in strength in comparison to when they had left their homes. Now, Torien was using that newfound strength to cast the sunball at his sister. She dove headfirst into a shadow as a blast of heat and flame lashed out where she had stood. Torien was forced back a few steps from the strength of the blow. The spot where Sulian had once stood was now a crater three feet deep and across. All around the perimeter of the crater, trees were aflame.

There was no sign of his sister.

Torien knew she wasn’t dead. He would have felt the kill energy flooding him as he killed her. She had managed to flee just like the rest of her cowardly house. He would drag her back. He would drag them all back. He was of Solaris, he was of the sun itself and all knelt before the power of the sun.