Raphael awakens peacefully. He, however, doesn't remember going to sleep. He yawns as he lifts himself off of the bed that he is laying on. As he stands, he notices that something is off with his body weight.
Once he looks at his arm, he realizes why. His entire body is clad in plate armor. Low-tech stuff from the medieval era, it looks like.
As his eye's adjust to the room he is in, he begins to realize where he is. The entire room he is in is made out of cobblestone, with royal purple tapestries draping down the wall over top of his bed. There is also a fireplace at the far left of the room that is not lit. Besides that, there also are a few lit torches on each of the walls to light the room, a chest on the opposite wall from his bed that is locked with a steel padlock, a rack on the wall to his right that has a shield and an iron longsword on it, and a door on the wall next to the chest.
Raphael judges from the fact that he was born in the modern era that this must be the simulation that Miyra had spoken of. He looks around the room for June and Miyra, but they are nowhere in sight. The room he is in is vacant, other than himself.
Given that he doesn't know what to do, Raphael paces around the room to get himself more adjusted to his new armor. As he walks, he starts to consider the situation he is in. Since he didn't even get to look at what the description of the simulation is, he has no idea about what he is supposed to do. Judging from the armor that he is wearing, Raphael understands that he must be some kind of knight in this simulation, but the entire mission is oblivious to him.
As Raphael ponders to himself, he begins to smell something that smells... smokey....
Raphael turns around to look at the doorway and discovers that thick, black smoke is now pealing through it's cracks. Wherever he is at, the place is now on fire, and he has only a limited amount of time before he suffocates in the confines of this room.
Thinking on his feet, Raphael rushes to the door and attempts to push it open, but to no avail. The door is either locked or being blocked from the outside.
Raphael looks back and forth around the room as he attempts to find another way out of the room he is in, but the room is completely sealed off. There are no windows, there are no vents, and the only other way out is through the fireplace, other than escaping through the obvious door.
Raphael wants to sigh, but the fumes coming from the door make that impossible. He can't think of what to do next. His options are becoming limited as the smoke continues to envelope the room.
Then Raphael gets an idea. He could try using the sword to hack through the door, since the door is made out of wood. Raphael coughs as he walks to the rack on the wall and grabs the sword.
Using one hand to cover his mouth and the other to arm his sword, Raphael starts hacking away at the wooden door. Unfortunately, no matter how hard he tries, he can't break through the door. It's just far too thick.
At this point, Raphael is starting to run out of hope for getting out of this room alive. “Great way to start off the simulation....” Raphael thinks, but then he has another idea, which is his last option.
For some reason, he thinks that throwing something extremely heavy at the door might work at getting it unblocked. He looks around the room repeatedly for something massive enough to throw at the door, eventually concluding that the bed that he had woken up on would work well enough. Given that thought, he starts to think that the fumes are starting to get to his head. . .
“Aw, what the... hell, I'll give it.. a shot.” says Raphael past the thickening smoke, with him having to cough repeatedly during those words from it. At this point, the confined smoke is nearly clouding up the entire room, but that doesn't stop Raphael from attempting to live. He pushes past the smoke and grabs the wooden bed frame by it's end and lifts it up until he can grab it by it's center. Once he has the bed in equal balance above his head, Raphael let's out everything he has in his angel-enhanced muscles and throws the bed at the door.
Luckily, Raphael's last idea actually works. The bed hits the door with such force that it blasts it right off it's hinges and backward across the hallway, slamming it up against a cobblestone wall with a massive stained glass window right over top of it. The bed itself flies over the wooden door and right through the stained glass window, landing somewhere outside of the building he is now in.
Raphael has no time to celebrate his escape, or any oxygen for that matter. He escapes through the open doorway after grabbing his sword and shield and looks around in both directions down the hallway. He then thinks to himself “Yep, I'm in a castle alright, no doubt about that, but what do I do next?” Looking down the left hallway, he notices something “Wait, what's that?”
Raphael sees a figure moving towards him further down the hallway through the cloud of smoke at frightening speed. As the figure comes closer to him, he can make out the shadow of another figure moving behind it. As the first figure comes into view past the smoke, he can see that it is a woman just slightly over his height who is dressed in a royal purple gown and has a tiara on her head. As she runs toward Raphael, he begins to see the other figure that is moving behind her. It is a large, beefy green man with crude bone armor adorning random parts of his body. As the two run toward Raphael, one word escapes through his lips. “Orc....”
The woman trips, but catches herself with her hands. She spins around, sees the Orc and attempts to crawl away. But it is of no use, the Orc is on her in an instant. The Orc leaps on top of her and pulls his crudely-made sword up over his head to end her life.
Raphael knows that he can't allow her to die, even if this is a simulation. He flips his sword into a backhanded stance and lines up his sword javelin-style with the Orc's head, throwing his sword seconds later while praying that he does not miss.
Luck is with Raphael today, it seems, as his longsword goes right through the forehead of the Orc and out through the back of it's head. The Orc leans to one side as his brain damage is too much to live through, and falls to the ground.
Raphael rushes through the intensifying smoke to the woman as she start's getting back up. Past the smoke, he yells to her. “Lady, are you alright? Did that Orc hurt you?”
“No, young knight, you arrived in time.” says the lady in a dignified tone. “Please, my knight, we must escape from the castle post-haste.”
Raphael goes over to the downed Orc and pulls his sword out of it's head. “Do you have any idea what's going on here?” asks Raphael as he cleans his blade. “I... I just woke up and this attack was happening. I'm sure that you must have some idea about why we're under attack.”
“The Orc tribes of the north are attacking our kingdom once again.” says the Lady as she dusts off her clothes. “There is something different about this attack, though. It seems to be more coordinated than the others. It's almost like they have a plan other than destruction and mayhem this time. Although, I'm just as clueless over what that plan is as you are.”
“Before we leave, may I ask what you're name is, my lady?” asks Raphael as he tries to look past the smoke for an exit route.
“You must be joking, sir knight. The entire kingdom knows my name and I'm surprised that someone in our military doesn't recognize me! Nonetheless, my name is Catherine de Marion VI, and I am the princess of the kingdom of Cassidonia! Now come, young knight, we must get to the throne room before it is too late!”
“If that is what you wish, my lady,” says Raphael, trying to fit into his role in this simulation. “but I must ask, where is the throne room? I apologize for my bewilderment, I was just transferred to the castle last night and haven't had enough time to get a map of the castle in my mind.”
“I would argue with you, but time is short.” says Catherine as she walks ahead of Raphael down a hallway. “I will guide us there, but my defense is in your hands now, don't forget that. Come, we must escape this castle before it is too late!”
Raphael nods in agreement to Catherine and files in in front of her, having her guide him through the hallways while she stays behind him in defense. Catherine guides him through the hallways of the castle until they are at it's very back, where the throne room of the castle is located.
Once Raphael enters in through the side entrance of the throne room, he notices five knights in massive armor guarding the throne room in an arrow formation, along with another person equipped in lesser armor next to the throne. The smoke has now begun to get back this far into the castle, but it has only started to.
Raphael looks back behind him and asks “Where do we go from here, Catherine?”
“We must escape through the catacombs by entering through the underground tunnel behind the throne. Once we are through the catacombs, we must make our way through the sewers and out through an escape tunnel that leads out behind the castle. Once we are there, there should be an escort wagon waiting for me. The escort wagon will be prepared to take me to an outpost in the south, where in which the rest of our army will prepare a counter-attack if the capital is to fall. Now hurry, we must leave this very instant!”
As Raphael passes by the knights while heading for the back of the throne, he notices someone on the far right of the formation. Past the visor, he can just barely make out a pair of green, foggy-pupiled eyes. “Miyra?” he asks as he stops in his tracks.
The knight he is talking to is in fact Miyra Sinnt. Miyra gives Raphael a quick nod to tell him that he is right. “Continue with your mission, Raphael, we'll meet back up later once this assault is over.”
Raphael gives Miyra a nod before he goes behind the throne and climbs down a ladder with Catherine following close behind.
Raphael, through gaming-related reasoning, knows that the catacombs are compromised as soon as he enters. The catacombs are pretty normal for catacombs as far as the medieval century goes. There are coffins, dead people, cobwebs, all the normal stuff you decorate the catacombs with.
Raphael raises his shield as he slowly walks through the catacombs with Catherine following closely behind him. By the time Raphael has only walked five feet into the catacombs, he can sense that someone is right behind a nearby corner. He jolts his head in it's direction. As soon as his head moves, he hears a man screaming from the direction his head is pointing. In the second following the scream, a man in full armor, who is just slightly taller than Raphael, comes running from around the corner with four large and muscular Orcs chasing him, swinging their crude blades as they give chase.
Raphael tells Catherine to stay back before rushing forward to take down the Orcs. He runs by the screaming soldier and leaps into the air at the Orc to the center left, slinging his longsword to his right before he lands his shield into the center-left Orc's head. As he swings his sword through the air, it collides with the forehead of the Orc at the center of the formation and slices open it's head, killing it.
Raphael rolls out of the way as the Orc on the far left attempts to slash him with his crude sword. He comes to a stop a few feet later, still crouched on his feet and spins around to block an Orc on his right as it attacks him with it's sword, blocking it with his shield.
After recoiling the Orc's sword, Raphael does a counter-clockwise spin and slashes his finely-made longsword across the other Orc's crude stone sword as it attempts to block his strike. The crude sword snaps in half as it collides with Raphael's longsword. Raphael continues to spin and stops after going another 360 degrees and comes up to the other Orc with a spin kick to the gut.
He then throws his shield arm in the other Orc's direction and smashes it in the head. After he hits the Orc in the head with his shield, he backs away in the opposite direction. He then smashes the other Orc behind him in it's face with the handle of his sword by thrusting his sword arm backward, and then shooting his sword arm straight towards the Orc in front of him, aiming for it's face.
He misses, though, and stabs it straight through it's throat. He then pulls his sword out of it's neck, swings his sword arm around, and slashes the other Orc clean through it's gut. He swings around again and stops over top of the Orc he downed earlier and slams his sword down through it's head as it just begins to wake up, killing the last of his enemies in one quick combination.
The soldier smirks underneath of his helmet. “Not bad.” he says under his breath as Raphael finishes off the last of his enemies. His smirk ends as Raphael looks back at his allies, the smirk then being replaced with a look of fright.
“So, come on everyone, we need to get out of here.” says Raphael as he motions them forward with his hand, then walking off down the catacombs. Catherine follows behind him immediately with the soldier following right behind her.
Raphael doesn't know why, but there is something off about the soldier he had just saved. There is this weird air about him, and there also seems to be something off-putting about the way he walks. “Tell me, soldier, why were you being chased through the catacombs by those Orcs?” asks Raphael as he chops through a gathering of cobwebs in an entryway.
“I am part of the personal guard that is supposed to escort princess Catherine out of the battle,” says the soldier after he realizes that he had dropped his weapon somewhere. “but we were attacked while we were waiting for her by the invading Orcs. They killed everyone there and chased me down into the sewers. I'm a coward and I never should have ran from them. I should have stayed and fought. I am ashamed of myself....”
“Don't feel too bad, my friend,” says Raphael before he opens a doorway that he thinks leads into the neighboring sewer system. “you were probably severely outnumbered, I don't blame you. Now, let's get back up there and clear them- Oh my lord!!!”
Raph yells in complete horror as the stench of the sewer hit's his nostrils. It is such an ungodly smell that it makes him recoil in pain as his virtual nose hairs burn off from the immense stench. Raphael closes his nostrils with his fingers and motions for his virtual friends to follow as he walks through a cloud of unknown greenness that has now seeped into the room.
Using his shield arm to hold his nose, Raphael moves through a small hallway into a much larger open area of the sewer. This area has multiple paths and openings in all directions. There is also a large archway overhead in the middle of the room where a small battle is taking place between some Orcs and some soldiers.
Raphael really doesn't know how he is going to go about getting through this area. Although there is an ominous green mist in the air, Raphael is able to make out some kind of rancid dark green slime going down the nearby walls. Raphael doesn't even want to get close to it, he thinks it might eat him. Unfortunately, it's either the slimy wall or the massive stream of excrement going down the center of the path.
Raphael, instead, decides to take the path beside the wall on some kind of moss-covered stone that goes to the sides of the stream of excrement.
As Raphael and his small band of virtual allies go down the sidewalk of the sewer, the commander of the Orcs that are fighting on the overhead archway notices them and screams to his comrades to attack Raphael in a brutish language. Raphael jumps as he hears it's screech and then arms himself as the Orcs rain down from the archway toward him, with their leader coming down at the end.
Raphael runs forward with his sword armed and stabs an Orc straight through the gut as it lands. He then spins around in a 270 degree spin and slices an Orc through it's gut as it turns to face him. He then reels his sword back and stabs it through it's head into the slime-covered wall. “Smell this, A-Hole!” he screams before pulling his sword free of it's head.
Raphael turns around to see that the rest of the Orcs are completely ignoring him and going after Catherine. The soldier they are also ignoring, however, as he is now shriveled up against the cobblestone wall in fright. Raphael runs after the Orcs as they chase Catherine into the hallway that they had just come from before.
Raphael knows that, as he follows them into the hallway, that he needs to catch up to the Orcs quickly or they will chase down Catherine before he catches up. In a stroke of brilliance, Raphael throws down his shield and steps on top of it with both feet. He then sends out a kinetic push behind him aimed for the floor. This blast gives him great momentum and sends him flying at breakneck speed down the corridor towards the Orcs.
As Raphael nears closer to the Orcs, he uses his back leg to vent the shield up and into the air. The shield he is using flies through the air into the back of the closest Orc's neck, severing it's spinal cord and killing it instantly.
The brunt of the impact leaves a giant dent in the shield, making it completely useless. As Raph lands on his foot and knee, the remaining Orcs turn to face him.
With a smirk, Raphael raises his head at his enemies with his sword armed to his side. With a fury in his eyes that could only be described as divine, Raphael screams “Bring it!” as he leaps to his feet in a battle rush.
The only Orc remaining besides their leader thrusts it's sword at Raphael, only to have Raphael parry it to the side. Raphael then grabs it by it's sword arm and uses his body weight and strength to twist the Orc's sword out of it's hand, and then he throws the Orc against the sewer wall. Raphael soon after dodges a backhanded blow aimed for his head and thrusts his sword upward from his crouched position. Raphael's blade thrust's true, as it goes straight through the Orc's chin and skull.
Raphael then backs off from his downed enemy and looks at his one remaining foe, who is readying his stone battleaxe. Raphael rushes forward with his sword pointed outward and goes to thrust his sword into the Orc's chest, but his blow is blocked by the Orc's thick hide. At that moment, Raphael's battle rush ends abruptly as he realizes that this enemy is going to be at least slightly tougher than his last.
The Orc leader then knees Raphael in his gut, knocking the wind out of him and putting a large dent in his plate armor. Raphael backs away from the blow and is nearly struck down by a swing of the Orc's battleaxe. As Raphael gathers himself he begins to think. “This guy has to have some kind of weakness. A weak spot. Something that I can use to my advantage.” Raphael's eyes dart all over the Orc's body, looking for a weakened area to strike at.
Then he spots it. The Orc's neck seems less thick and sturdy then the rest of it's body. “His neck! That's it! I have to strike his neck!” he thinks. By the time Raphael realizes his enemies weakness, the Orc is already prepared for it's next attack.
The Orc attempts to grab Raphael by his neck, but misses. Raphael jumps into the air after backing up from the Orc's attempt to grab him and grabs a hold of the Orc leader's arm. Using the immense strength that comes from the hero form he is in, Raphael pulls the Orc's arm underneath of him and kicks off of it's arm. The Orc attempts to hit Raphael with his battleaxe, but Raphael is able to block it with his longsword. The force of the blow, unfortunately, puts a large crack in Raphael's longsword. As Raphael goes toward the Orc leader, he spins his body around and roundhouse kicks him in his head as hard as he can.
The force of the kick is more than enough to make the Orc leader stagger away. Once Raphael lands on the ground, he crouches down and focuses his strength into his legs. He then pushes himself off of the ground toward the stumbling Orc leader and with a mighty yell, plunges his sword into the Orc's neck. His sword hits with such force and lands so deeply that it nearly decapitates the Orc leader, but it unfortunately also snaps in half from the force of the attack.
As the Orc falls to the ground, Raphael rolls over his head and lands crouching on the ground in front of Catherine. “Are you alright, my lady?” asks Raphael as he looks up at Catherine from his crouching stance.
Catherine takes a few seconds to catch her breath before speaking. “Yes, yes I am, my loyal knight. Thank you ever so much for your assistance, I would have been lost if it wasn't for you.”
As Raphael and Catherine exit back into the sewer tunnel, Raphael starts to think to himself. “Wait a minute, the Orc's completely ignored that soldier from earlier and he didn't help us in the slightest during that fight! Dammit, that guy just keeps looking more and more suspicious by the second.”
As Raphael turns the corner back into the main sewer tunnel, he notices that the soldier is still sitting against the wall. When the soldier takes notice of him, his demeanor changes from nothing to a scared disposition, which makes Raphael even more suspicious. Raphael wants to say something to him about how oddly he is acting, but decides to say nothing.
The small group continues down the sewer hallways after Raphael grabs a crude Orc sword for self-defense, since his longsword had broken moments ago. The tunnel continues on for a while until Raphael and his group end up at the end of the tunnel. At the end of the tunnel is a long ladder that is bound into a circular tunnel wall that goes up to the surface. Raphael uses his hand to tell everyone to hold back as he looks up the ladder. At the very top of the ladder is a circular hole that leads up to the bright summer sky above. Raphael can also see a small tree branch hanging overhead. There is no doubt in his mind, this is the evacuation point.
Raphael looks back to the rest of his group. “Follow along after me.” he says as he puts his hands on the ladder.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
As Raphael is about to climb the ladder, he hears something moving above him. As soon as he looks up, he is hit by a dead Orc body that has apparently been thrown from above.
“The hell!?” says the soldier in amazement. “There was an entire Orc squadron up there when I was... chased down here.... Are you telling me that they are all dead!?!?”
Raphael pulls the Orc off of him using most of his strength to lift the two hundred pound body. Once the body has been pushed away and he is standing up once again, he looks back at his allies and says with a pant “Shall we keep going?”
With Raphael leading and the soldier following from the back of the party, the group slowly makes their ascension out of the slime-filled sewers back into the daylight.
Awaiting the small group at the top of the ladder is none other then June herself, wielding a massive battle-scythe and dressed in leather armor with a metal helmet.
There are dead Orcs and humans scattered everywhere in the area. The only sign of life is that of June and a horse-drawn carriage behind her. “ 'Bout time you got here, Raph, I could have used some help with these bastard Orcs!” says June as she kicks a dead Orc in the ribs.
“Yeah, sorry about that.” says Raphael as he scratches his helmet-less head and walks toward the carriage. “Were there any survivors when you got here?”
“Nope, all these people were already dead when I arrived. There were a lot of Orcs though, but I was able to take care of them, no problem. From what I know so far, we need to escape with the princess you brought with you-”
As June speaks to Raphael, the piercing screech of a battle horn can be heard over a nearby hill. “Shit,” says June in distress. “get in the carriage, they know we're here. They know we're here! Now hurry!”
June and Catherine dive into the carriage while the soldier takes the reigns. Raphael, on the other hand, just stands there, not knowing exactly what he is supposed to do. But once he notices the swarm of Orcs riding down the nearby road toward him on their worgs, he understands perfectly. Raphael leaps onto the top of the carriage and readies himself as the horses begin to gallop down the road away from the horde.
As Raphael stays crouching on the top of the carriage, he starts to wonder what he is going to do about fighting the Orcs if he doesn't have a long-ranged weapon. “Hey Raphael,” says a voice coming from underneath him. Raphael looks down over the side of the carriage and sees June leaning out one of the carriage windows holding a crossbow and a bag of bolts. “Look at what I found inside the carriage. Take these and shot at any of the little green men that get close.”
Raphael doesn't have time to argue and he knows it. He doesn't want to argue about fighting them, since he wants to fight. He leans over the edge of the carriage and grabs the crossbow and bolts and immediately fires a loaded bolt down the road as he straightens himself out. The bolt flies past a few Orcs and worgs and land's straight in the chest of an Orc, sending it to the ground and rolling down the road.
After firing off a few more bolts through the swarm, Raphael starts to notice that more Orcs are falling then there are bolts he is shooting. Out of pure curiosity, he looks over the edge of the carriage and is slightly surprised to see June leaning out the back window shooting off arrows from a bow she probably found inside the carriage. With his curiosity fulfilled, Raphael pulls himself back up the side of the carriage and re-positions himself for another shot.
Raphael fires at any Orcs that get close to the sides of the carriage while June guards the back of the carriage, them doing this through a silent agreement. Combining themselves into a team is elementary for them, they are completely in-sync.
After a while, the forest that they are riding through breaks off into a massive plains land that spans off in front of them. Combine that with the clouding sky above, and Raphael nearly takes himself out of the battle to look at the beautiful sight in front of him, but just nearly. Raphael knows that he can't allow himself to be distracted in any way from his current battle.
Unfortunately, Raphael's bag eventually runs out of bolts, which that forces him to fight in close combat with the Orcs on top of the carriage unless he gets more bolts from June. “June!” he yells over the galloping of both the horses and the worgs. “Can you pass me some more bolts, I'm out!”
“Here ya go!” yells June as she leans out the back window of the carriage to give Raphael a pack of bolts. Before Raphael can lean over the edge of the carriage to retrieve the bolts, an Orc arrow lands just over top of the window June is leaning out of, forcing June to cry out “Shit!” before pulling herself back into the carriage. Unfortunately, Raphael isn't able to grab the bolts in time and has no choice but to let the Orcs come to him.
The Orcs gain on the carriage in a matter of moments, June alone not being enough to stop them. They pull up on the sides of the carriage and climb onto it's top while Raphael tries to hold them off, but to no avail. They board the carriage while Raphael hacks mercilessly away at them with his stone sword. There are eventually so many Orcs on the top of the carriage that the extreme weight is too much for the reinforced wood to handle.
The top of the carriage gives in and Raphael and the Orcs drop down into the inside of the carriage. The force of the drop makes the entire carriage break to pieces and crumble down the road as the horses continue down the path and away from the crash site. After Raphael lands on the rushing dirt of the road, everything goes blank....
When Raphael awakens, the wreckage of the carriage and everyone else is completely unaccounted for. He holds his head in pain as he begins to survey the area around him. He reaches his hand out onto the ground to give himself leverage to get up, but realizes that he is grabbing some other person's hand instead of dirt when he lays his hand down.
He looks up from his laying position and notices a flowing mane of sky-blue hair laying in front of him. He quickly rises to his feet and grabs June in his arms. “June! June, wake up! We're not finished yet! Come on, wake up!” Raphael says frantically to June in hopes that his voice would be enough to get her out of her slumber.
June slowly opens her eyes as Raphael holds her and calls her name. “What... what happened...?” she asks as she looks around the area she is in. June's head wanders to her side to survey the area, but she immediately lets out a shriek as she sees what is happening around her.
Raphael doesn't know exactly why June had screeched the way she did, but once he raises his head to where she was looking, he realizes why. Surrounding both him and June on all sides are layers upon layers of Orcs, all armed and ready to kill their prey. With a scowl on his face, Raphael rises to his feet while helping June up from the ground. After getting June to her feet, Raphael grabs his nearby stone sword and grasps it as tightly as he can in his hands. He then looks back at June, who is now holding her battle-scythe and looking at the hordes that are staring them down.
June and Raphael lock eyes for a moment, and then spin around immediately to press their backs together and face their enemies. With stern faces, they rush toward their enemies, attempting to at least fight valiantly and take as many of them with them.
Halfway to their foes, Raphael and June stop in their tracks as they hear a great galloping coming toward them. Raphael and June and all of the Orcs turn their heads toward the noise and notice a massive army of horsemen and knights galloping toward them down the road at breakneck speeds. At the speed that they are going down the road, Raphael knows that him and June will get trampled during the fight.
Raphael spins around on his heels and rushes toward June, throwing down his sword and grabbing her in his arms while rushing forward into the swarm of Orcs. He doesn't go through them, however. He instead leaps into the air and starts skipping off of the Orc's shoulders as he attempts to make clear of the army's path. After kicking a few Orcs in the head and parrying a few overhead strikes at him with his plated legs, Raphael eventually arrives at the outskirts of the Orc circle just in time to see the army of knights cleave straight through them. The battle lasts for only a few mere minutes, the Orc's standing no chance against the overwhelming might of the swarming knights.
After the battle dies down and the remaining Orcs scatter into the fields, Raphael and June begin wandering around the scene after grabbing their weapons off of the ground. They are looking for any sign of what might have happened to Catherine and the soldier that they were with earlier.
As Raphael searches through the Orc bodies, he notices a crude piece of paper sticking out of the armor of an Orc captain. Out of curiosity, Raphael leans down and pulls the paper out of the Orc's armor and unfolds it while June watches from over his shoulder.
As Raphael unfolds the paper, he quickly understands that it is a letter from someone addressing something important to the Orcs. As Raphael reads down the letter, his eyes flash with a shimmer of both anger and regret. The letter reads:
To all commanding captains of the Orc forces:
This is just a reminder for those that do not remember. We're attacking the castle at dawn, but our objective is not to take over the castle or cause mass carnage for no reason. We are to capture princess Catherine, alive, and bring her back to our camp. Afterward, we will use her as a bargaining tool to force the current inhabitants of the castle out so that we can then move in and own it for our own. As you may all know, I am part of the princesses escort team, so I have given you all the location of the escape route. As you were all instructed, you are to eliminate her escort team, save myself, when I give the signal. If the princess is not with us when I give the signal, then a small band of Orcs are to follow me into the sewers to find and eliminate her, since she should be making her way through it by then. As always, I support you in your efforts to eliminate this accursed castle and it's outer town. All that I ask is that you make me the new king of the castle once this is all over, may glory and feasts come to us after our victory.
Victor Carragnthis Omanliy the III
Your informant
“Whatcha reading'?” asks Miyra as she climbs off of her horse and looks at a fuming Raphael. Miyra doesn't know what he is so angry about, or for that matter, why June is also angry.
Raphael's head flashes over to Miyra as she approaches. “Miyra! We need a horse! Now!” Raphael screams as he throws the letter down in disgust. June is also as mad as Raphael is, but doesn't say a word, only following Raphael's footsteps to the point.
“Marcus, these two need your horse right now.” says Miyra to one of the nearby knights. As she gives her order, one of the knights dismounts from his horse, saying “Yes ma'am.” as he climbs off.
Without skipping a beat, Raphael pounces on top of the horse right as the knight climbs off of it. June is right behind him as she sheaths her battle-scythe and jumps on to the back of the horse. As soon as Raphael is situated on his horse, they both speed off down the road. Before this, Miyra picks up the letter and skims it quickly, then realizing what the current situation has become.
“Wait, Raphael, hold on!” yells Miyra as Raphael and June ride off down the road. “Shit.... Everyone! Take care of the remaining Orcs and then follow us! We're going after Princess Catherine's captors!” yells Miyra to her knights before jumping onto her horse and chasing after Raphael and June down the road.
Once Miyra is past the nearby hill, she can see Raphael and June off in the distance. They are pushing their horse past it's breaking point as they rush to catch up with the traitor. Further off in the distance, about a half a mile away from Raphael and June and going about the same speed, Miyra can see what looks like an over-sized war chariot that has about ten Orcs on it. Along with the Orcs, Miyra can also make out a person at the front of the chariot who is tied and on their knees, along with being dressed in royal attire. Miyra immediately identifies her as Princess Catherine.
At the back of the chariot is a man standing straight up in military garments and holding a sheathed silver sword. Miyra also sees with her enhanced vision the burn mark that is on his left eye. “That's him, the man that the message in the chest talked about. He's the man I was supposed to look out for, the man with the mark. I wonder if Raphael or June had a look at the message that was in their chests in their starting room. It was supposed to tell them their roles in this simulation.” she thinks to herself.
Miyra feels a drop of water hit her face as she rides. She looks up to see that storm clouds are forming above her and blotting out the mid-morning sun above. Soon enough, rain is pouring down on the area like a monsoon. “A perfect way to end the simulation.” Miyra think as she chases after Raphael and June. She can see through the rushing rain the traitor motioning to the Orcs aboard the chariot, apparently telling them to ready their arrows. He then points toward Raphael and June as they rush down the road.
Raphael sees the traitor's motion and the Orc's bows and arrows and starts having his horse weave back and forth down the road, attempting to make himself less of a target and making it harder for the Orcs to hit him.
The arrows rain down the road as Raphael dodges them left and right. Eventually, Raphael gains enough distance toward the chariot that he is a mere three feet away from it when an Orc aims it's arrow dead center at Raphael's horse's head. Raphael and June notice the arrow's trajectory and stand on top of their horse as the arrow's let fly.
As the arrow goes through the horse's skull, Raphael and June leap off of the horse onto the chariot. As they go through the air, they aim their trajectory toward the Orcs at the very back of the chariot. As they land on the chariot, they fall directly on top of two Orc archers.
“Well done, little whelp.” taunts Victor the traitor as he watches Raphael through the rain. “You may have survived my Orcs, but let's see how well you fair against a well-trained human captain!” as the traitor ends his sentence, he unsheathes his silver sword and braces himself into a battle stance.
June is about to push herself in front of Raphael to face off against the traitor, but Raphael lays his hand on her shoulder. “No June, leave this one to me.” he says to her. June turns to him with a burning fury in her red eyes, but she still gives him a nod and backs off to the back of the chariot.
Raphael stares at the traitor through the warm summer rain, his stare cold and centered straight at his enemy. As June and the remaining Orc's watch by the sidelines, the two enemies stare each other down. Finally, Raphael speaks. “Why... Why the treachery, why all of the planning, why would you go through all of this... How damn greedy are you!?”
“Greed?” says the traitor before breaking off into laughter. “Hahaha! Poor little knight! Don't you see, this never was about money or power! Can't you see from my face the truth!? This is revenge! Revenge for all of the torture that I have endured at the hands of those that inhabit your damn castle town. Ever since my childhood, I have been cast aside by those that call themselves humans. Throughout my life, they have treated me like scum because my parents were convicted criminals.”
Victor continues “When I was only a mere nine year old, an aspiring court wizard decided to try out a spell on me, he thought that nobody would care if the little thief boy was burned and maimed. I can still see the flames... I can still feel them upon my face.... This is revenge, little one, and I will not rest until your people have felt what I have felt all of these years!”
Raphael nearly drops his guard as he listens to the traitor's words. He can tell that this man is a fractured soul and has been deeply hurt by the people of the castle he guards in this simulation. His natural emotions nearly take him over, and since he is the guardian and a half-angel, his emotions are enhanced by a holy degree. He can actually feel the rage and truth in this man's words, but he still has a mission to complete, and he knows it.
“I'm sorry for what has happened to you... but I cannot let you take the princess! Now, en-garde!” Raphael raises his sword toward his opponent with one hand and prepares himself for battle.
As lightning flashes in the nearby forest, the traitor rushes through the rain toward Raphael with his sword held high. Raph sees the strike coming in the at the last second and is able to dodge to the side as the sword comes down.
While still on the attack, the traitor changes the angle of his sword and swings it vertically toward Raphael. Raphael is able to send his sword horizontally in the way of the strike and blocks it, but the assault of his silver sword is nearly too much for the stone sword to be able to handle.
Using as much might as Raphael can muster, he pushes the traitor's sword to the side and pushes forward toward him, headbutting him when he is close enough and then kneeing him in the gut right after.
The traitor recoils in pain from the strike and is nearly struck down from a swing from Raphael's sword across his head. Raphael's sword slices across the traitor's right cheek, but isn't sharp enough to do any serious damage.
The traitor backs off again to the side of the chariot while holding his cheek in pain. Raphael rushes toward him with his sword pointing forward, ready to end this fight.
The traitor parries Raphael's sword as he comes close and kicks him square in the chest, the force of the kick knocks Raphael's sword right out of his hands and sends him backward, gasping for air.
The traitor rushes toward Raphael from the side of the chariot and attempts to cut him with a parallel slash, but Raphael is faster and dodges to the right, kicking the traitor in the gut as he goes. After Raphael kicks him, he does a counter-clockwise spin and kicks the traitor's feet out from underneath him. The traitor falls with a thud on the floor of the chariot.
Raphael continues to spin, grabbing his sword in the process, and slices the traitor across his stomach, but not deep enough to severely injure him. He then spins away from the traitor and comes at a stop in a crouching position at the back of the chariot.
Raphael looks behind him for a split second and sees Miyra's horse still galloping closer and closer toward the chariot, but not fast enough to gain as much distance on them as necessary to get there before the fight is over. Raphael flicks his head back into the fight right as the traitor regains himself.
Raphael and the traitor put themselves back into combat stances and circle each other, waiting for either one to make a move. As Raphael stares at the traitor with his sword held straight, he notices the weight on his sword shift, with half of his sword suddenly coming off and falling to the floor. As soon as the traitor sees Raphael's sword break, he rushes forward with his silver sword held high. Thinking on his feet, Raphael throws his foot up into the air as the traitor comes forward and kicks him dead in the bottom of his chin with the point of his steel boot.
As the traitor recoils back from the kick, Raphael jumps into the air and drop kicks him in the center of his face. The force of his kick is enough to send the traitor flying back into the side barrier of the chariot.
“Yeah! Go, Raph, Go!” cheers June from the sidelines. She knows how well Raphael can fight from the other day, but taking on a captain of a military with just his bare hands is a great achievement on anyone's part.
The Orcs, however, don't take kindly to June cheering for Raphael. One Orc grabs a hold of June's arm as it is lifted in the air and pulls it down to her side while another grabs her by her other arm and another grapples her torso. “Hey! What the hell! Let me go!” she screams in rebellion against the Orcs.
Raphael is able to hear June past the raging storm and immediately spins around and punches the Orc to the left of June in the face. “Let go of her!” he screams into the Orc's faces as he continues to punch them viciously.
The traitor, however, is not finished. He sees the opening as Raphael turns away to help June and takes that chance to finish this fight. He rises to his feet, walks over to Raphael, raises his sword and slashes Raphael across his back with a parallel slash. Raphael doesn't even know what just happened, all he feels is a great pain and a wet feeling across his back, and then he becomes very, very weak.... With his eyes going cold, he slowly slips down to the floor, half dead.
Miyra witnesses this as she rides through the rain. “No!” she screams through the rain. She can't believe it, Raphael, the Guardian, has lost....
Nonetheless, Miyra continues through the rain toward the chariot. As she rides forward, Miyra screams to Raphael at the top of her lungs, yelling his name in an attempt to wake him up.
The traitor sees Miyra riding toward them. He tsks and motions to his Orcs to fire on her as he walks toward June. As he walks toward her, he thrusts his sword into the wooden floor of the chariot next to Raphael's body, a mistake that will prove fatal. “Heh,” he says with a smirk. “you'll make a perfect slave, little one.” The traitor then proceeds to turn his head into the air and laugh horrendously.
With fear in her heart, June cries out through the rain for Raphael, yelling his name into the air. With tears forming in her eyes, she yells as loud as she can for him, pleading that he will awake and save her.
As Raphael lays on the floor of the chariot, bleeding profusely from a serious back wound, he can hear June and Miyra screaming his name through the storm above, edging him on to regain himself and continue to fight. “Alright, alright...I'm going....” he mutters lightly as his eyes wearily blink open.
As the Orc's fire at a pursuing Miyra and the traitor has his back turned toward Raphael as he harasses June, saying that she will be a slave to him in the future, Raphael slowly lifts himself to his knees and then even more slowly to his feet. In a weakened and bloodied stance, Raphael staggers toward the silver sword that the traitor had previously left impaled in the floor of the chariot.
With all of the strength he has left in his weakened body, Raphael rips the sword out of the water-weakened wood flooring of the chariot.
Raphael then wearily lines his sword up with the lower back of his enemy. With the extreme wound that he had taken earlier, he is amazed that he has even gotten to this point. Nonetheless, he knows that second guessing his stamina at this point isn't going to help the situation, so with a weakened posture, he pulls his sword back and thrusts it straight through the back of the traitor's gut.
“Urgh, noo!” screams the traitor as the sword pierces through his stomach and out of his gut. “How could this be! My revenge isn't-” The traitor's last words are cut short as Raphael twists the sword inside of the traitor's body, killing him in an instant.
“Go to hell...” says Raphael as his strength starts to wane. His body and the body of the traitor begin to slowly fall to the floor as Raphael's energy runs dry. “and stay... away... from... June....” Raphael falls to the ground as his remaining energy drains and he quickly passes out.
Miyra witnesses all of this as she passes through the arrow storm that is being shot at her. She also sees June go over to Raphael's unconscious body after he passes out, lifting up his body in her arms.
Miyra knows that even though the traitor has been dealt with, there's still Orcs aboard the chariot and they still need to be killed before the simulation can end.
The Orcs rain down arrows on Miyra as she moves closer and closer to her target. Using her enhanced eyesight, Miyra is able to mark out where the arrows are going to land and is able to dodge clear of most of them and block the rest with her broadsword.
Miyra continues toward the chariot and decides that it would be easier to pull up to the side of the chariot and board it then going straight forward.
As Miyra dodges arrows and pulls up to the side of the chariot with her broadsword out, an Orc aims his arrow straight towards Miyra's horse. The arrow flies true and hits the horse in its thigh.
Knowing that the horse is in danger, Miyra decides that she needs to board the chariot and fast. She leaps off of her horse and grabs a hold of the top of the wooden barrier as she falls.
She is able to use her strength to pull herself up over the barrier and aboard the chariot with a roll. As her roll comes to a stop, she looks up to see an Orc standing right in front of her. With a shine in her eyes, she swings her sword high, slashing the Orc in twine.
Three Orc's rush toward her, forcing her to act fast. She goes in between the middle of the center and left Orc as they attempt to slash her with their swords. As she goes by them, she hangs her sword out to her left side, while doing a clockwise spinning motion, and slices the left most Orc through the gut and cleaving it in half. Her spin ends at about a hundred and sixty degrees as compared to her original position with her broadsword sticking straight through the back of the middle Orc.
The right most Orc backs away in fright as Miyra rushes toward him and shoulder checks him over the edge of the chariot. As soon as the Orc is overboard, she immediately turns her attention toward the remaining Orcs on the other side of the chariot. Three of the remaining Orcs are standing on the other side of the chariot with their bows trained toward her, two are guiding the worgs that are pulling the chariot, while the remaining one is... standing over top of June and pointing a knife dead toward her head....
Before Miyra can react to the threat to June's life, June shoots her hand out from underneath Raphael's back toward the Orc and launches him off of the chariot with a kinetic burst that is so powerful that it nearly takes Miyra aback.
After Miyra regains her composure, she launches herself past Raphael and June toward the Orcs on the other side of the chariot. They stand no match for her might and are felled quite quickly by Miyra's fast and powerful strikes.
After the Orcs are dealt with, Miyra turns her attention toward the chariot drivers, but they are mounting a few worgs at the end of the chariot by this time. Before Miyra can stop them, they take off with the worgs down the road and out of sight.
Miyra chuckles to herself with her sword planted into the floor of the chariot as it slowly comes to a stop.
When the chariot has come to a complete stop, Miyra notices that the rain has now died down to a complete stop. She looks upward and sees that the clouds that had enveloped the mid-morning sun are now departing and the brilliant sunlight has finally returned.
Miyra smiles to herself as she watches the sun come back out, but quickly remembers her mission as she hears Catherine mumbling behind her. She then walks over to Catherine and undoes her bindings and gag.
“Thank you, young knight. If you hadn't come along once you did, I would have been lost!” says Catherine sincerely as she rises to her feet.
“Hmm? Oh, you shouldn't be thanking me. You should be thanking the one who fought that traitor, not me. All I did was come into the fight a little later. All the honor should go to Raphael over there.” says Miyra as she motions toward a wounded Raphael in the center of the chariot.
“Ah yes, the young knight who led me through the sewers. Raphael, is it? I will personally make sure that he goes down in history as a hero for his sacrifices here today. He died a hero of the crown, that he will be known for.” says Catherine as she looks over the wounded warrior.
“Died a hero? Trust me, he isn't dead. He can take much worse than that!” comments Miyra as she climbs off of the chariot and onto the wet ground.
“He isn't dead!? Look at him! He most definitely will not survive these wounds! You think too highly of him. Only someone who is immortal can survive such a wound.” says Catherine as she then looks toward the hordes of knights that are coming down the road.
“Heh, he isn't immortal, but he's something damn close....” says Miyra as she looks toward the overhanging sun.
“Wait, what do you know about this man? Tell me so that I can better understand who he is!” yells Catherine to Miyra.
Miyra smiles as she feels the sensation of the simulation machine go through her body, a sensation that can only be felt to know. That sensation is the sign that the simulation is nearing it's end. Miyra let's out a deep sigh as she stares into the sun. “Wouldn't you like to know....” she says before she sees a sudden flash, and then complete darkness.