Coming upon a small encampment outside of the main city as the sun set behind the mountains, the knight tasked with delivering the information arrived. He quickly made his way into the main tent to inform ‘the boss.’ “Vice Commander Volnir, I have news regarding the kid you are looking for! Just as you said, he returned to the city!” the knight exclaimed.
Volnir chuckled as he held out a letter towards the knight. “He did take slightly longer than I had intended, I must admit. However, it matters not in the end, for he is here now. I want you to take this letter and deliver it directly to the boy.” Volnir shifted his tone to a far more serious one as he explained, “You must not allow Adria Mori to get her hands on that letter. If that happens all of my planning and preparing will have been for nothing. Are we clear?”
The knight nodded and took the letter. “Good, then you are dismissed. Get some rest and be up and ready to go early in the morning.” Volnir said as he dismissed the knight.
Now alone in his tent, Volnir grinned sadistically as he chuckled, “This should be fun, I have not had a chance to slaughter something other than soldiers in a while.”
- - -
The sun made its round trip and rose over the horizon, bleeding into Zycors room. Sitting up to stretch, he noticed a dagger right by his window outside. It appeared to be pinning an envelope addressed to him to the wall. Curiosity overtaking him, Zycor opened his window and retrieved the envelope. Upon opening it he found the letter enclosed and began to read it. As he read through it, his eyes widened as small sparks of electricity began to lightly arc around his body. Novos began to do the same as he opened his eyes full of ferocity. Zycor slammed the letter down on his desk and immediately geared up. He called for Novos who jumped onto his shoulder. Zycor rushed out of his room and out of the guild hall without encountering Adria.
As he rushed across the wastelands all he could do was allow his anger, rage and hatred fester as he thought about the contents of the letter. “I honestly did not think I could hate that damn vice commander anymore than I already did!” Zweicor shouted within their head.
Zycor remained completely silent, solely focused on finding this bastard. Making certain Zycor remained grounded and would think straight during the fight, Zweicor reminded, “Remember, this bastard is strong. As unfortunate as it is, we cannot fight him with sheer force alone.”
“I know.” Zycor replied with a calm fury.
Back at the guild, Aisha arrived early to try and scare Zycor as payback for the previous day's shenanigans. As she entered the guild, Aislin greeted her. “Now to what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you here this early?” She asked before she raised her eyebrows knowingly.
Aisha shook her head as she explained, “No, no, no, that’s not it at all! We aren’t like that yet!”
Smirking, Aislin reiterated, “‘yet,’ you say.”
Taking a moment to remind herself how Aislin is, Aisha ignored the comment as she continued, “Anyways, I wanted to scare him awake as payback for yesterday.”
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Aislin let out a disappointed sigh and gestured for Aisha to proceed. Aisha burst into Zycor’s room as she shouted, “Wake up idiot, we got stuff to do!”
She scanned the room and quickly noticed that Zycor was nowhere to be found. His bed was uncharacteristically disheveled and his pajamas were thrown in front of the bookshelf. Aisha noticed the letter sitting on the table and contemplated whether or not she should read it. She eventually decided that, under the pretense of supervising Zycor, she would read it:
-
Hello Zycor,
You have taken quite good care of my men over the past few years. As much as it pains me to know I have lost so much man-power, at least I can rest easy knowing that many of the weak links have been cut loose. I thought, to return the favor, I would take some of your friends and respond in the same fashion. Never would have imagined a half-orc and a human would be buddy buddy, but hey the world can be crazy! Look at us, helping each other out like this, it reminds me of when we first met, back at that small village. Just think about how much I have helped you with! Well, if you decide you wish to watch those close to you die again, we will be to the north of the city by the mountains.
Your friend,
Vice Commander Volnir
-
Finishing the letter, she set it back on the desk. As she shook from anxiety, fear, and anger she ran out of the room. The main hall coming into view she caught sight of Baz and Mylon entering, most likely to see Zycor. She stopped instantly and stared at them as she realized Zycor had been tricked. Baz and Mylon noticed Aisha staring at them and as they were about to inquire as to why she shouted, “You two, we have to go stop that impulsive fool! He was baited into a trap!”
Baz and Mylon’s expressions instantly shifted to ones of panic. As the three of them darted out of the guild hall Aisha called back to Aislin, “Hey, make sure Adria goes and reads the letter up in Zycor’s room! We are heading out first!”
After nearly thirty minutes, Zycor finally reached the base of the mountain range. As the pillars of rock towered over him, he began to look around and saw the encampment further down the mountain range to the right. After catching his breath, he began the final leg of the journey.
As Zycor approached the entrance of the encampment, he stopped. Although they were not visible, Zycor still felt their presence. He was surrounded. Before he could make a judgment call, he heard clapping coming from the encampment. From within, Volnir emerged with a sadistic and condescending smile.
“Well now, I must give you credit, I thought for certain it would have taken you longer to get here!” Volnir chirped before he taunted, “Don’t tell me you used some of the small amount of magic you have to get here! Now that would be just terrible!”
Zycor’s irritation was visibly plastered across his face. His anger and hatred grew more and more palpable by the second. Zycor, with an expression of contorted rage, growled, “Where are they?”
Volnir, putting on a confused look, asked, “Now, who are you talking about?”
Unable to contain himself any longer Zycor stuck out his finger as he said, “Converge.” and instantly shot out a bolt of condensed lightning. Volnir cocked his head to the side as the bolt streamed by his face, piercing through one of the encampment's guards chests. The guard fell back dead with a gaping wound through his sternum. Neither Zycor nor Volnir took their eyes off of each other. Volnir now had a serious expression while Zycor’s glare intensified with his rising fury.
Breaking the silence, Volnir smirked as he drew his sword, “Well, I would consider that first blood. And with that, I must retaliate to protect Velathria.”
Zycor clutched his gauntlets as he responded threateningly, “Give it your best shot.”