Screams echoed in darkness, with ember ashes gliding like dying leaves. Steel clashed from unseen corners and spilled blood formed burgundy puddles. Savage growls drew closer from an unknown distance as cries were heard amongst the blurred scenery. Hollers for a retreat were made as a deep but anguished voice yelled closely, “take the child and run!” The spectator, hazy at first, started to gain familiarity. An orb with a white glow appeared in an instant beaming its light in the dark. On its surface, exotic designs covered it. A circle that looks reminiscent of an eye gazed upon the viewer. In a split second, within the arms of an unknown person carrying them away, a figure covered in shadowy hairs howled over a pile of corpses. Suddenly the creature turned with the sharpest of eyes and jumped ferociously at them, but right before collision Adel jolted awake.
Laying on the bed made of straws and his heart troubled from the surreal experience, Adel closed his eyes and exhaled, it was a nightmare. He pushed himself up, crushing his bedding underneath. As he sat up stiffly, the young Orner slowly looked behind to get a glance at the minuscule window. Dark blue light glossed through the gap, it was nearing sunrise. Adel stood on his sturdy hooves, but right before he could think, he bumped his head on the low sealing. “It's been years living in this shack, yet I keep on forgetting to duck.” He said to himself while rubbing his black mane that ranged from the top of his head to the bottom of his back neck. The room wasn’t built to contain Orners like himself. Every time he stood, he had to hunch his neck to the point his long snout touched his chest. Adel walked to the wooden door that led to the house's main room and peaked through.
Without surprise, he saw his uncle awake sitting on a small stack of straws eating breakfast. Every morning his uncle awoke this early, since he was the one who opened the smithy right next to their cramped house. The older Orner looked at his nephew and smiled, “ah Adel, you’re awake. Now come boy, I made us breakfast.” He had bread crumbs scattered on his stash, and licked the droplets of soup residing on his lower lip. “I heard you moving in your sleep again, another nightmare?” Adel squeezed through the door and slowly sat on the other end of the table. He kept his dismal eyes lowered toward an empty bowl on his side of the table.
“Yeah,” he replied weakly. His uncle leaned over while holding a ladle and poured soup in his nephew’s bowl. Adel kept his gaze down while thinking of his dream. He took a piece of bread and dipped it in his soup as his uncle watched concerningly.
“Why don’t you go see a healer?” His uncle suggested. Calios was his name, brother of
Adel’s father. Ever since they fled from the north, Calios took his nephew under his care, treating him as his own son. Adel kept chewing his breakfast while his uncle waited for his reply, thinking heavily about the object from his dream. It has been three months since this sphere kept on reappearing. Because of it, past nightmares he used to have when he was a child began to resurface. Adel stood up and walked to the entrance, he bent down to a bucket of water beside the doorway and washed his face.
“Sorry uncle, but I don’t think I have the appetite to finish the soap. I’ll think about seeing a healer later on, but I have more important stuff to worry about.” Adel went to his room and picked freshly washed clothes from a small chest in front of his bed. He wore gray pants that were held by firm rope, and put on a white tainted shirt that exposed his arms. Over his shoulders settled a forest green cloak that went down to his knees with a hood that was able to cover past his forehead. Adel left his room and headed towards the door, “I’ll see you soon uncle.”
“Wait a minute, where are you going so early in the morning?” Calios called out.
“To the training grounds.”
“But the sun has barely risen, why not relax for another hour or two before you go?”
Adel turned around with a sigh, “this is something necessary that I cannot hold back on. If I don’t learn sooner or later then how am I supposed to protect us if we ever get attacked?!”
“Adel I… I’m not saying I don’t want you to learn how to fight, I’m just telling you to take it easy on yourself. You wanting to be a fighter in order to protect us is something that would make your mother and father proud. But at the same time I’m getting worried about your health for pushing yourself too hard, especially because of those cursed dreams of yours. That is why I am wanting you to get healed.” While ranting, Calios stood from his seat.
They stared at each other for a few seconds until Adel walked up to his uncle. “Don’t worry about me,” he then hugged him, “I’ll be fine, and remember I did say I’ll think about the healer.” Adel unwrapped his arms from Calios and headed back to the door.
“Alright, but don’t push your limits too much. And don’t forget about work while over there, you don’t want to anger Mr. Grumac again like last time. Oh wait you forgot your blade!” Calios reached for Adel’s longsword that lay beside the table and tossed it to his nephew, catching it by the sheath.
Adel smiled, “I’ll see you later,” and exited the house. The young Orner observed the morning view of Uras. It was dwarfed in comparison with other towns, but big enough to be considered one. It had a population of about three thousand with a decent variety of races. At this time, there was barely a soul roaming around, people were either still asleep or just awoke from their slumber. From the east, the sky was a warm pink that slowly spread across, hiding the dark blue hue as Adel strolled on the dirt road northwards.
The garrison, with the training grounds beside it, was located north of the town. Commoners were allowed to train in case war reached them, which some did, but not like Adel. His ambitions to train exceeded higher than anyone else in Uras. The horrors of war were no mere stories to him, but a past ordeal. Ever since the raid that destroyed Naroa thirteen years ago, war kept on raging, and the young Orner never forgot. Even though he was very young when it happened, Adel remembered it vividly. Nineteen, soon twenty, he believed he had a chance to do something about it, to prevent it from repeating itself.
As Adel walked towards the training grounds while the sun rose, he couldn’t help but think more about his dream. The sphere wasn’t like anything he had seen in real life, some sort of magic orb he thought. Whatever it was, it never left him alone each night as if it were trying to speak to him.
Different shops were opening at this time, some sold things like vegetation, cloths, poetry, the list goes on. Many of the shopkeepers were smaller than Adel, some being half his height while others were only up to the knees. Being an Orner, he was from amongst the tallest races in the duachaigh. But even other Orners only ranged up to his shoulders. The type he was was more rare in the land, with him and his uncle being the only ones in Uras.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Baccos soared through the air, most likely delivering messages from other towns or villages, and sometimes from the nearest city. They’re not the largest of creatures, with their wingspan being as long as Adel’s arm. They were one of the few races that flew within the Duachaigh. The vast majority of Baccos took the profession as messengers as they were the best at navigation. Though they did not wear much, mostly a vest and a bag containing supplies and their letters.
Staring at the sky with a sunken heart, Adel noticed an unusual sound as if something above him was struggling. He heard heavy panting and wings flapping unevenly. “In Nèadach’s name, look out!” a voice cried out. Adel looked behind just to see a bacco spinning out of control towards him.
With adrenaline, Adel grabbed a wooden board lying beside him and held it as a shield. He closed his eyes shut as a thud shook his shield with blue-gray tinted feathers gliding about. Opening his eyes, he uncovered himself from the board. Adel expected to see the creature lying on the ground, but was surprised when it was nowhere to be found. He looked around until he heard a groan from the wood he was still holding. Adel flipped it around revealing the Bacco with its beak stuck on it.
Adel gently grabbed it with his broad four fingered hands carefully yanking its beak off the wooden board. He held the Bacco towards his face to get a better look at it. “Are you alright?”
“Ugh… yeah I should be,” the creature replied, rubbing its small beak while getting on its stick feet upon Adel’s palm. “Though I could have died from that, or lost my beak, I’ll still thank you for catching me with your… uh… wooden cushion.” He pointed at Adel’s right hand. The young Orner realized he was still holding the wood and threw it to the side. “Anyways, this letter I am carrying is way heavier than what I first anticipated. Usually a journey from the south of the Craid to here would take half a day at most. But it ended up being two thanks to this letter that weighs like a boulder!” The Bacco jumped in frustration then stopped, realizing he was breaking down in public. “Sorry about that, it has been getting on my nerves. The name is Mido, a military messenger. I have a message for someone here in Uras… at least I think that’s where I am.” Mido hopped a bit closer to Adel, “where am I exactly?”
“You’re in Uras.”
“Splendid! Finally my journey is almost complete, and I’ll be able to get rid of whatever this thing sergeant Lain gave me-”
“Lain, as in Lain Ren?” Adel looked towards the direction Mido came from. His brows lifted thinking about that name.
The Bacco turned to where the young Orner was staring. He got confused and turned back with a shrug. “Ah so you know the guy, well it seems everyone knows each other these days. I better get going, I’m already late as it is… hey sir! No no no that is not for you!” Adel took the note from Mido’s bag that was strapped on his back and placed the small creature on the ground. “Don’t put me down you giant turd, that letter is for Adel Luif! Now give it back or I’ll fly up there and claw your eyes out!” He began to peck at Adel’s single hoof.
“Calm down, I am Adel. Would you please stop attacking my foot!”
“Oh?” The Bacco looked up at him with his round red eyes bulging from the side of his head. “Well my apologies Mr. Luif, makes sense how you know Lain then. He didn’t describe you well enough, he was in a bit of a rush. Quite funny how I crashed on you out of everything, as if it was destined by fate.” Mido said with a small giggle, then cleared his throat.
“That is Lain for you, never was the best at descriptions.” Adel unrolled the letter. A medallion fell out landing right in front of the messenger. Mido screamed, jumping backwards, and stared at his reflection. The young Orner picked it up and studied it. Seemingly foreign, he thought it could have been Regand in origin. But based on the lack of knowledge he had of the empire, he wasn’t so sure. Adel looked back at the note and read as followed:
Dear Adel
It has been two years now since I left Uras to join the military. I’ve
been thinking for a while to come and visit, but unfortunate news came
out. I am being deployed across the sea between the Craid isles to
mainland Ercua, meaning I won't be able to visit. There have been
skirmishes happening between us and the Regand empire, and the
military is needing more troops on the border in case if a war breaks
out. I hope things are well on your end, if you see my father tell
him that I am doing alright and that I missed him. Well, there is
nothing else for me to say.
Your dear friend, Lain.
P.S. This weird medallion was with an Orcescend who was crossing
through, looking for someone who he thinks is on the isles up
north. He left this behind, intentionally or not, doesn’t really
matter. It is quite heavy and its material is unknown to me. It
Could be worth a lot. I wanted to give it to you just incase I don’t
get to see you again.
Adel looked at the white medallion again. The more he observed it, the more ancient it seemed. The shine it gave was a bit dull, some scratches were laid on it and the design was of unknown origin. Strangely enough even though Lain claimed it to be heavy and the Bacco struggled to carry it, it wasn’t heavy for Adel. In fact it felt almost as light as a feather.
He looked at Mido who was staring at the magnificent gold piece and smiled. “Does there happen to be an inn somewhere in this town? I'd like to stay and rest my wings for a few hours before I head out in the middle of the day.” The Bacco asked.
“There is, climb on my shoulder and I’ll take you to it.” Adel hid the letter and medallion underneath the left side of his cloak and secured it underneath the rope. Mido flew up and perched himself upon his left shoulder as they headed to the Inn nearby. The sun was already halfway through the horizon. More folk populated the streets as the scenery felt more lively. Civilians said their mornings to each other and to Adel as they passed by.
Around the middle of Uras is where the inn was. It wasn’t very big, having only one layer that contained a small dining area and held six chambers. “This would do,” Mido said. “I appreciate you for giving me a ride. Is there anything you would like me to send back to Lain before we depart, anything light preferably?”
“I would love to, but I am not much of a writer. I know how to read, but not to write. Besides, I don't have anything to print on.”
“You could just tell me and I’ll remember. I have a decent memory.”
Adel thought for a moment and told him what he wanted him to say. It wasn’t anything too complicated, just the idea of letting his friend know that he was doing alright and wishing him good tidings. After that, Adel said farewell to Mido and continued to the training grounds. As the memories of him and Lain played in his head from when they were children.