Growing up can be hard when you’re different, and my experience as a Sylph in Argos was just that. You human readers may not have heard of Argos; It was buried when the lonely mountain crashed. Growing up in Argos, I watched many normal humans age to adulthood while my body seemed to stay adolescent, I wasn’t aging at the same speed they were. This made me an outcast. I spent most of my life sheltered by my first master, Kirito. I didn’t know it then, but Kirito was actually one of the few existing blademasters of Thule. When he finally died, the only thing I had left was his sword and what little he had taught me.
After that I found myself spending my time with the few people I could consider true friends- Patya, the gorgeous dancing kleptomaniac, Darude, the foul mouthed Druid, Corbin, Darude’s llama sidekick, and Leeloo, the innocent one. Most days I would end up drinking in a lonely back alley with Leeloo and Corbin, while Darude and Patya would hit the town looking for more liquor, dance, and action. I later found out that for Darude this meant striking out, and for Patya it meant drinking her “mark” to sleep and having him wake up relieved of a few valuables and a keepsake kiss-mark on his forehead. Darude and Patya provided ceaseless entertainment with their back and forth quips and insults.
This all changed when Leeloo had a vision. Up the mountain we were supposed to go, and up we went. At the summit we found an ancient building; the guardian within spoke of sacrifices and world ending prophecies. I don’t remember the details of its speech, but in the end it asked for Leeloo’s life. I wouldn’t allow it. Call me selfish, but I would rather see the rest of the world fall to shambles than to lose one of the few who actually gave a damn about me. We escaped, though our actions could very well prove detrimental to the rest of the world.
Upon our exit we met Asura, a Blademaster from Thule- a city that would end up having its fair share of problems due to us. He told me the gravity of the sword which I carried, and at the time we didn’t know fully what this meant or who he was. He was what you could call a celebrity in Thule. A member of The Forsaken, one of the two largest guilds at the time, he had quite the following. Leeloo and Patya swooned for him, while Darude insulted and heckled. “I’m sure Patya would love to help you polish your blade.” It was because of Asura’s wanton slaughter of a tribe of pixies that I would meet Nixie, and through Nixie I would meet Weehawk, the smallest and most courageous warrior I would ever know.
I’ll never forget how we walked through The Black Forest. It must have been our ignorance mixed with our young bravado, but no caution was paid. Where many would stalk silently, fearing for their lives, we proudly strode arguing amongst each-other loudly, Darude and Patya teasing me again about my age. “Nixie the Pixie? Surely someone of your age could have come up with a more believable name.” It was in this forest that I found out I could command a skeleton army, but more on this later.
A run in with an elf archer revealed Wee-Hawk as she knocked him out of invisibility with a swift backhand. Crumpled on the floor Leeloo healed the small man, and he decided to join us so long as I promised to one day defeat Asura. At the time it seemed an impossible task, but I agreed none-the-less.
It was once we exited the forest that we saw the mountain go down. There was no going back. We may have hated everyone who lived there, but it was our first home, gone forever. Good riddance. Not long after that we arrived at Thule. It was Darude, Corbin, Leeloo, Partya, Weehawk, and I with nothing but a cart and mule we stole from some poor farmers. Into the city we went, to make a new lives for ourselves.
I don’t think that words can describe the feelings I had when I first stepped foot into Thule- Amazement, Excitement, Overwhelming? Maybe all of those, but perhaps none of them. The sheer size of it, the crowded streets, the hustle and bustle, it was almost too much to bear. The first day was a blur – red armbands supported the guild, you needed your own land in the city to have a guild, Patya can get you room and board anywhere, Corbin always spits, Weehawk didn’t know what cities were, Darude and Leeloo handle new experiences by wandering, and a prince needed adventurers to take him through the forest. Prince Rorik was looking for adventurers. A prince? We needed money, princes have money, it seemed perfect, and it was open to anyone, guild affiliated or not. It was too good to be true, but I was in a daze, so I went to present the posting to the group.
Darude left me to the defense, knowing my fledgling militaristic mind would be well suited to the task. I commanded the villagers to dig a trench and construct a palisade wall to defend from the coming undead assailants. Weehawk was preparing for his task to scout the green light while Darude and I prepared to defend the village. Night began to fall as the work was finishing up. As the last traces of light fell behind the horizon an unearthly quiet fell upon the city. The militia stood waiting and the villagers huddled quietly in the village proper. A moment that felt like an eternity passed before I saw the light. The green luminescence dulled all but the red blood and viscera from previous battles. In an instant Weehawk darted from the defenses into the forest, his wings taking him nimbly from tree to tree. After Weehawk was gone, the army emerged. At the head an armored figure flanked by two skeletal warriors came forward to parley. Darude, the mayor, and I went to meet him.