Fire. It is the force that breathes life into every creature. It is the force that makes the plants grow tall. It is the force that is at the very center of our world. It is only when the Kiln turns to ash, and the embers fade, that life will cease to exist. The Lord grows weary, an old soul, desiring release from his ashen prison. Soon the light will fade, and not even the Everlasting Dragon can stop the darkness. Soon, we will be one with the Dark.
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Chapter 1
“What? Where am I? What is this place?” I wondered groggily as I awoke from what I could only imagine to be a deep slumber.
The walls were thick cement, not a window in sight, save for the grate some thirty feet above my head, but even then, it was barely enough to get any sort of sunlight to peek through the thin metallic bars. A pile of rags lay in the corner of the room, oddly human shaped. The room had to be at least seven feet long, enough for a man of my stature to lay his head, but still simulate the feeling of the walls closing in.
I turned to face the wall behind me and spotted a small, iron barred door, padlocked shut, gazing into a long hall that was dimly lit by torches lining the walls every few feet. Quietly I shuffled my way to the door and pressed my face up against the bars.
“H—hello? Anybody? Is anyone there? Somebody? Where am I?
Nothing, albeit not all surprising. This place did not exactly look like a bustling place. In fact, it looked barren and devoid of life. I went back up against the wall where I awoke and slumped down and rubbed my hands together. Cold.
“What the hell is this place?” I spoke aloud. I bore no recollection of where I might have been prior to waking, or what I was doing.
I slowly looked up and stared at the wall across from me as the light began to dim. Nightfall. I looked up to soak up what little rays I could before darkness fell.
“What is my name?”
#
I awoke again expecting myself to be somewhere else, but alas it was not the case. Same cold, dark walls with only the faintest of light peering through the top. I had taken to counting the cracks in the wall in an effort to pass the time in this cell, but usually it made it last even longer. I had no idea how long I was going to be here, or even why I was even there in the first place.
“Psst, you there.”
I bolted up from my usual spot on the dark floor.
“Who’s there? Show yourself?” my voice wavered as I spoke into the darkness. I could see nothing.
“Up here.” The voice spoke
I looked upward to the grate far above me. A silhouette blocked out the sunlight, bearing the resemblance of a man. He opened the grate with one hand and pushed a large object down with the other. It landed with a loud thud on the cold floor, echoing throughout the hall.
“Take the key you find on him, it unlocks your door. Take the armor too, you’ll need it more than he will.”
“Wait, wait, what do you mean him?” I crept closer to the object. A body, clothed in leather pieces, save for the helm which appeared to be some sort of iron or steel that completely covered the face. I turned back to the figure above me.
“Are you serious? What the hell is this? What is this place? And who the hell are you?”
I could see some sort of movement which looked like a shake of the head.
“No time, you’ll just have to trust me. Take the armor, unlock the door, and go, but don’t run. And don’t look anyone in the eye. It’ll be a disaster for both of us if you do and you’ll just wind up back in this cell, so if I were you, I’d have started moving already. I’ll meet you soon, be careful.”
The silhouette disappeared almost as quickly as it appeared. Like a ghost. But the body that lay in my cell was real enough. I quietly crouched down and shuffled towards the corpse, for I could only assume it was already dead, if not by the fall then by the figure who might have killed him prior. The body lie face down so I grabbed one of its arms and flipped it over. The helm in which it wore had its visor pushed up, exposing the face underneath. I reeled back in shock.
It was no ordinary face beneath the cold, metal helm. The skin looked almost leathery, as if it were left in the sun for weeks on end. The sockets were bare, nothing filled them, leaving only a black hole the gazed upwards. This body had to have been dead for a long time. I shook the fact that this man was dead out of my mind and began searching for the key, which wound up being looped onto his belt. I put the key next to me and started removing the corpse from the armor, which was more difficult than I had imagined, although when it was all said and done, the armor fit decently enough and the corpse was moved to the corner out of the light.
I approached my cell door, key in hand, and reached through the bars, fumbling to find the lock to free myself. I slid my hands methodically across the bars until I felt the cold lock in my hands. Carefully I slowly moved the key and fit it inside the mechanism and slowly turned as to not make any noise. The figure told me not to run, which probably was code for “be quiet” so I just assumed that I had to be stealthy in order to escape out of here.
CLUNK
The lock came free as I gasped in excitement. I could finally get out of this cell and out of this hellhole, wherever this may be.
“Okay,” I gulped nervously, “Okay, lets go.” I whispered to myself as I pushed the door. It made an ungodly screeching sound that made me wince, not from the noise itself, but from fear that it would alert whatever could be in the halls. I paused. Nothing.
The door creaked and groaned even more but finally it was open. Slowly I walked out, being careful to make as little noise as possible. The greaves I now wore, courtesy of the body, made small metallic clinks as I walked, which seemed even louder than they should be, due to the long empty hall in which I traversed.
Moans could be heard from what appeared to be other cells. Choirs of the damned it sounded like.
“The fire…it fades…save us”
“…can’t stop the coming Dark.”
“Why my Lord…”
I shivered. Hearing these words being spoken from the darkness brought a bout of uneasiness, despite me not knowing what they were speaking of.
“Fire? Lord? The Dark?” I thought to myself, “Sounds like a bunch of nonsense to me.”
I shook it out of my head. I had to stay focused and get out and find whoever helped me.
“He said we’d meet soon, but where. I don’t know where I am going at all. Hell I don’t even know who I am.” I thought to myself instead of speaking aloud. The quieter the better.
I reached the end of the hall which had stairs leading upward to what appeard to be a rusted ladder.
“That must be it. The way out.”
I quickly climbed the stairs, skipping a step at a time to hurry faster. I could almost taste it; freedom. My heartrate fastened. I had no idea how long I was waiting in that cell. It felt like ages, but was sure it was only a day or so. But why there? Why me?
Dust flew from the rung of the ladder as my hand clasped it in its gauntlet. It clearly hasn’t been used in quite a while. I shook it gently with one hand. It didn’t budge.
“Seems sturdy enough.”
I slowly brought a foot up to another rung and began the climb upwards. There was a hole at the top that was filled with light, more than the grate in my cell. This had to be it. I climbed even faster, reaching the top in a matter of seconds. My head poked out of the whole and shielded my eyes from the bright rays.
I was in a courtyard it appeared, surrounded by most covered walls, and a building looming over it, one that seemed to look like a church or something of equal importance, complete with heavy, ornate wooden doors atop some steps.
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“Ah! There you are!”
My head snapped to my right in the direction of the voice.
A man stood against the far wall, leaning on it casually as if he hadn’t a care in the world. He pushed himself off the wall and strode towards me as I climbed the rest of the way out of the hole.
“I was wondering when you’d decide to show up. Took you long enough.” he said as he strode closer. I put up my hand.
“Stop!”
He froze and put his hands near his hand, palms open and forward. A gesture of innocence.
“You might want to be a little friendly there pal. I did just save your life, didn’t I?”
I looked at him exasperatedly.
“You threw a dead body into my cell with no sort of introduction or explanation about who you are or why you are here so sorry if I seem to be a little on edge right about now!”
He took a few steps slowly forward, hands still raised.
“But I still got you out, did I not?” he asked matter-of-factly.
I stared at this man, who was clad in bright steel armor, head to toe.
He reached up towards his helm slowly and eased it off his head. He looked…normal. Like any other ordinary human. Not like the corpse he flung into the cell. He was light skinned and had unruly, curly brown hair that went down to bottom of his ears. He smiled, which appeared kind. The only thing not light about him, were his eyes; a deep dark blue.
“My name is Oscar. I’m human, just like you. We’re one in the same, you and I. Not like the others.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Others?”
He nodded, “Like the one in your cell, or the other poor sods in this hellhole.”
He had a point. He was ordinary, like myself, and he did help me out of the cell. I relaxed and straightened my posture, extending a hand to him.
“What’s your name, lad?” he asked as he grasped my hand in friendly gesture. I averted my eyes and broke hand contact. He stared.
“You don’t know. Well that puts a stick in the gears, doesn’t it?”
“You say it as if you were expecting me to not know who I was. How could you possibly know?” I asked, hoping for some answers.
He shook his head, “I can’t answer that, but I know someone who can. I promise you I will introduce you two when we are really in the clear.” He pointed to the massive doors in the courtyard, “We have to get through there, nice and easy, and then we are home free, alright?”
I swallowed and nodded. I just want to get out of here.
He slapped my shoulder gently, “Good, so we understand one another. Let’s go, watch each other’s backs, alright?” he pointed at his eyes with two fingers and then gestured to mine in the same way. I nodded once more.
“Good,” he said as he started to back up towards the doors, “Let’s get a move on then.” He ran up the steps in a quick motion as I followed closely behind him.
“Okay, when we get in, stay against the walls, okay? We don’t want to wake the big fella.”
I grabbed Oscar’s shoulder tightly, “What do you mean “big fella”? What the hell are we running into?”
Without looking at me Oscar said, “Nothing major, just a demon.”
“Oh that’s just great.”
Oscar glanced over and winked, “No big deal, right? Good let’s go.”
Before I could say anything else, Oscar quickly but quietly opened one of the doors and dashed silently inside. I sighed to myself and quickly followed, crouching slightly to minimize noise.
The room we entered was large, much, much larger than my cell, and had an abundance of light, mostly due to a massive hole in the ceiling. I met up with Oscar at a pillar that was nearby, and took another look around the room. There were six stone pillars in total around the room, holding up what was left of the ceiling. Dozens of pieces of what appeared to be armor were strayed about the cracked stone floor, coated in rust and dust and possibly some debris from what I could only assume to be pieces of the roof.
“Oscar?”
He held a finger to his mouth “Shhh! Don’t be loud, or you’ll wake it” he whispered vehemently.
I nodded quickly and followed his hand. At the far end of the room was another set of doors, smaller than the ones we entered.
“Those doors lead outside, we just have to grab the key, get out, and we’re free, understand”
Another nod followed by a question.
“Where’s the key?”
He scanned the room and then pointed.
“There”
His finger pointed to a hook on the far wall that held up a key, which looked to be made of silver.
Oscar turned to me and grabbed my shoulders, “Okay so here’s the plan. I want you to go to the door, stick to the walls, avoid the center of the room, understand? I will go grab us the key and meet you over there and we can get out.”
I pushed his hands off me but nodded. I understood loud and clear.
I watched as Oscar took off in a quick crouch around the pillars. I began to make my way towards the door, keeping my eyes on the hole above us. It seemed as though it were there for a reason, a reason other than the fact that the roof caved in. Something had to have caused that.
I made it over to the door and scanned the edges of the room for Oscar, eventually seeing him pulling the key off the hook on which it hung and began making his way over to me. He quickly slowed to a stop upon reaching myself and the door and began to fumble with the lock and key.
“Now this lock hasn’t exactly been used in quite a while so this may take a little.” he spoke over his shoulder to me as I watched on. The lock on the door jangled as he tried to fit the pristine key into the rusted hole
THUD.
Oscar froze, “Uh oh.”
I stared at him, “Uh oh? What do you mean uh oh?”
He fumbled with the lock even faster now, “No time!”
“What happened to being quiet?”
THUD.
Oscar glanced back at me, “That’s what happened.” he said, gesturing his head to the roof.
I turned and looked at the roof.
THUD.
Dust began falling from the roof at the other end.
THUD.
Further now.
“GOT IT!” exclaimed Oscar, separating the lock from the door.
THUD.
I watched the hole as a massive, gnarled, leathery hand appeared and grasped the sides of the broken stone.
“Oscar?...”
Oscar slammed the doors open, “We need to move, now!”
I sprinted outside, Oscar following, slamming the doors back shut.
THUD.
The outer walls of the building shook, as it sounded as if something massive had dropped to the floor inside. Oscar sprinted past me.
“We need to get to the edge!!” he shouted behind to myself.
We were outside, that much was obvious, but it was just an outcrop on the side of a cliff that went on for about fifty feet or so. There was no where to go.
THUD!
Something hit the wall behind us as we ran. I saw Oscar scoop something up from the ground as he ran to the edge of the cliff. A bow. He paused at the edge and took out a piece of flint and a knife from a pouch on his hip and proceeded to strike it repeatedly onto an arrow. I paused at the very edge of the cliff peering at the landscape. It was mountains. Mountains everywhere. Far below us was…nothing. Just black.
“Look north, you’ll see a small town at the base of one of the mountains!” Oscar shouted.
I squinted my eyes and gazed in the direction he said. I could see a faint small brown object nestled in the side of the mountain. That must be the village he was referring to.
THUD!
My head snapped back to the building. Cracks that weren’t there before now decorated the wall from which we came.
I heard a hiss and a sigh of relief from Oscar behind me. I turned my head. He had managed to light one of the arrows and nocked it into the bow he grabbed. He aimed towards the village, high up in the air and loose the arrow and we watched it sail through the air, still burning bright.
“Let’s hope that works!” Oscar shouted. It was windy out here on the edge of the cliff.
CRACK!
We both turned back inland and saw the wall had been shattered. A creature stood in the opening, tall, at least twenty feet. Its face was ugly and spiked, lips curled back into a snarl. Its hulking, grey, leathery arms held a massive hammer, the weapon I assumed it used to break down the wall. Its large round body took most of the doorway as it slowly stomped towards us. As it exited the building, I could see it had sings that scraped its way along the top of the hole it created, a massive tail following behind.
“Oscar? Is that by any chance the demon you mentioned?”
I looked over at Oscar who had gone ghostly white. He nodded.
The demon roared as it picked up speed, closing the distance but us and its giant hammer.
The ground grew hot beneath our feet. I looked down and saw a yellow circle start to surround us, light pulsing upwards.
“Oscar?” I asked, nervousness in my voice.
“It’s okay! This is what was supposed to happen!” he said, back in control and confident sounding once more.
The demon was now only a few steps away from, letting loose with another roar, swinging its hammer down at us like little insects it wanted to crush.
“OSCAR!” I shouted.
The hammer was coming quick. The light from the circle was now at chest level. Oscar smiled. With a burst of white light, everything vanished and went black.