As the sun peeked over the corn tassels, a gentle breeze rustled the grass, signaling another ordinary day in the quaint farm town of Starch, where Ariah and Elias Silver called home. With harvesting season on the horizon, anticipation filled the air as the townsfolk prepared for their beloved festival—a time of music, dance, and culinary delights.
Starch operated not under the governance of a leader, but through the collaborative efforts of its residents, a bustling community where individuals exchanged goods and services freely. Among them was Dusty, the seasoned blacksmith who tended to the town's weaponry and tools, earning his reputation as a stalwart pillar of society. Then there was the Paine family, led by the venerable Ivan "Old Man" Paine, overseeing the agricultural endeavors that sustained the village. And of course, the affluent Auken family, renowned traders whose ventures brought prosperity to Starch, in turn enriching the entire community.
Now as for the Silvers, Adrian and Joy Silver were drafted into the war. To their own demise, they used to reside in Fairstad, which meant that King Artos gave himself permission to force civilians to fight for him, or they died. To this day, it is a mystery if Adrian and Joy are alive, luckily for their children however, they were well taken care of in their new home of Starch.
But amidst the tranquility, distant screams shattered the serenity. Clad in dark attire, Ariah and Elias hastened towards Dusty's shop, drawn by the urgent commotion echoing from the northern outskirts of town. Initially dismissed as the mischievous antics of the Paine boys, the severity of the situation soon became apparent as they joined the throngs of concerned townsfolk.
Their arrival at Dusty's coincided with his urgent summons—Starch was under threat of attack. Hastily donning their lightweight armor, Ariah armed herself with a half-length battlestaff, a relic of Elven craftsmanship, while Elias, skilled in the art of stealth, readied himself for the impending confrontation.
As they scanned the horizon, the ominous glow of torches illuminated the advancing horde, numbering in the hundreds. Elias's intuition hinted at a different intent behind their approach, noting their attire and the billowing smoke emanating from Dockton. A sense of foreboding gripped the trio as they braced for what lay ahead.
The crowd drew closer, sweat dripping from the fearful civilians who were inappropriately wielding weapons that they have never used. "Ariah, hold onto this horn and stay beside me. Elias, I want you next to me, we shall ride up just a little ways, no more than a kilometer to see what the problem is. You better blow that horn when I give you the signal and our townsfolk will come running in to help us." Dusty said.
The three strapped some saddles to the horses that were idle next to the shop, they hopped on and off they went. "Please be careful Dusty" and "sound us off so we can help '' could be heard from the town folk as Dusty, Ariah, and Elias rode off towards the oncoming crowd. A few minutes had passed and they reached their limit of distance and waited.
"So the smoke that's coming from Dockton is a bit worrying, and didn't Mr. Auken say he was leaving to go there a few days ago? I hope he is okay, I'm really worried.'' said Ariah.
Dusty's eyes lit up, leading the group of men was Mr. Auken himself. Stunned and shocked, Dusty said "We must go get him, he doesn't look too shabby from here". They quickly made their way to the crowd, the yelling, screams and heat of the many torches grew stronger as they approached.
"DUSTY, WE NEED TO KEEP MOVING, ORCS RAIDED DOCKTON AND SOME OF THEM WENT AS FAR TO EVEN CONTINUE CHASING US. THEY KIDNAPPED THE WOMEN AND KILLED MOST OF THE CHILDREN. WE MUST GO!" Mr. Auken yelled.
"Orcs...." whispered Dusty.
"What are our directions sir?" asked Ariah.
Dusty seemed to be distraught and couldn't think straight. For a minute, Elias would repeat the same question a couple times to the old man and decide he would give up.
"Everybody, get to Starch and please do not trample anybody. Elias and I will protect those in the back from any of the orcs, you must keep running!" Ariah yelled while she got off of her horse.
Elias surprisingly had an evil like smirk, it was not from the fact that innocent lives were being taken and ruined, but it was because he remembers the scar on his mothers face. His parents were on an expedition to the north-eastern portion of Saintsland called Star Forest, when the Orc tribe of Vexa had a surprise ambush.
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Luckily with the strength of numbers and power of mystical magic on the Silver's side, they managed to defeat them and finish out their mission. Elias remembered this and couldn't ever forgive the orcs, he has little understanding of the Celestial War, but he knows that they will kill him if he doesn't kill them first, that alone was enough for him.
The people of Dockton were safely making their way to Starch's entrance, Dusty had finally snapped out of his delusion and came to terms with it. He hadn't seen an Orc since they slaughtered his boat crew in the early years of the war. "HELP ME, HELLLLLP, THEY'RE TRYING TO TAKE ME AND MY BABY!" a woman screamed in the distance by the trees north of them.
In a snap of the finger, Ariah, Elias and Dusty quickly darted for the trees. After running through the trees for about a minute, they came across an open area surrounded by trees. There stood five Orcs circling a woman who had appeared to be well beaten, holding a screaming infant. "Vexa wants revenge, Vexa wants stupid King Artos to see what we are going to do to his people, his family, and his land!" grunted the Orc leader.
"Please don't hurt my baby, the people of Dockton don't even follow the king or share his views. I'm sorry he did what he did to you guys, but we had nothing to do with it!" whimpered the distressed woman.
"Vexa do not care, Vexa wants to send a message to all humans in this country you call Saintsland. By my hand, Vexa will murder you and eat your child like he is the meat of the boar." proclaimed the Orc. During the time of short conversation between the woman and the Orc, Ariah, Dusty, and Elias positioned themselves in a way that they could all attack in different positions.
The Orc lifted up his flaming spiked club, it was the worst decision that Orc could've made. "Casting Aquatic Needle Threader" Ariah whispered. The mana was dispersing from Ariah's fingertips, the blue streams that flowed became that of water. The streams had a really thin snake-like appearance, Ariah aimed her fingers towards the hovering Orc. The spell she just used can be used like controllable bullets or for healing and patching up damage. Within an instant, the mana released at deadly speeds, one of the needles pierced through the Orc's left ear and through the eye of the Orc standing beside him.
At this point, Ariah had just used an extreme amount of mana, for her reserves were fairly low to begin with, this was something she knew she had to work on. All that remained were the remaining three Orcs, they watched, completely stunned as the two that were falling to the ground were profusely bleeding from their skulls, dead.
Elias knew this was his time to to fight, he quickly stood up and released mana into his feet to run at a speed about twice his normal sprinting pace. With his two tanto blades equipped, he jumped at the Orc closest to the woman and child and used his technique called the X-Slash. He split the head of the orc in four quarters with one move.
However, an orc managed to get a good swing in, pummeling Elias to his back. Dusty came prepared as he loaded four arrows to his bow, the arrows being used were the same material as Ariah's battlestaff, elven tree. He crafted the arrows by the bark alone and also added on an arrowhead made of trinite. This type of stone consists of three different gems, and it can be any gemstone. They prove to be useful because one of the gems inside the stone may be more effective against a surface than the others, it's a good blend of power.
At this moment, Dusty was using a finger to aim the two sets of arrows for different trajectory. He then released, time felt slow for Ariah watching her twin being ganged up on, knowing he may be losing his life within the next second. Dusty released the bowstring, Ariah was watching hesitantly and the bowstring was vibrating from the power. The four arrows were set up perfectly, to both Orcs they were struck in the back of the skull by one arrow and another right in the center of their spines. They were both moving towards Elias' fallen body, they then collapsed and their lifeless bodies landed on him.
"Ariah, you go help the woman, I'm gonna help Elias, these Orcs are too heavy for a young lady like yourself, c'mon!".
Ariah helped the woman stand up with her baby intact, "ma'am everything will be okay now, can you give me your name?" she asked.
"S...So...Sonia" she whimpered. Dusty got the bodies off of Elias and noticed a particular insignia on the patch of the Orc's top. It had a red colored X behind a black stained V, Dusty would cut this off of the Orc to have it looked at.
Elias got up, he had a large bruise and some wounds on his back from the spiked club that he was hit by. "You were reckless boy, your attack held no strategy besides a rush of blades. If it weren't for my arrows, you'd be as good as Orc chow right now! Elias, you really need to start thinking, you've never killed anything or anyone prior to this. I understand your anger, but that move could've left you and this poor woman dead".
Dusty was clearly upset, but importantly he was scared too from his previous encounters with Orcs.
"Sir, i'm sorry, it's just that m...my mother and her, her, her scar it messed me up as a kid, I HATE ORCS, I HATE THEM SO MUCH, THEY NEED TO DIE, THE LOT OF THEM!" Elias yelled.
"Okay guys, Sonia here is injured, we need to get her to the village now, we need to heal her wounds." Ariah said. They all grabbed their belongings and made their way to the horses where they would gallop back to the safety of the Starch.