Category : Books-Fiction

Sub Category : Fantasy

Cling* Cling* Cling*. Swing harder Alvin, yells Sensei Gulo. Parry her swings, he continues. Shut up, I growl. I block her next attack and go in for a punch to daze her. Before I could land the punch she grabs and twist my hand and then quickly knees me in the stomach. I fall to the ground, gasping for air. “D-Damn it”, I cough out. I pull myself up to one knee. “You have to do mo-”. Kayle kicks me in the face before I could finish. I hit the ground harder this time holding my nose. Blood pours out my nose. I look down at the ground and fight back tears. “Alright that's enough Kayle you won”, says Sensei Gulo. “What's that now like Kayla 20 Alvin none”, laughs Rayleigh. “Rayleigh go get the crybaby a towel and hurry before he gets more blood on my concrete”. Kayle kneels down and pinches my nose. “Sorry I overdid it, hold your nose like this until Rayleigh comes back with that towel”. I shove her away. “Get away from  me, I don't need or want your help”, I say coldly. “Alvin what did you learn from that lose”, ask Sensei. “That if I swing slow, I will pay for it”, I say. “No, that's just the basics”, he yells. “Kayle tell him how you was able to read that attack so easily”. Kayle turns towards me and says. “It's not that the attack was slow it was your lack of sense”. It was very foolish of you to go in for an attack with your off hand, you never use that against a experienced opponent and it's was very obvious”. Sensei nods his head. “Alvin you haven't been studying”. “I have been studying I just forget the basics”.  A wet towel hits me in the face. “There you go champ”, says Rayleigh. “Why is it wet”, I ask. “Because once you're done cleaning your face you're going to clean my concrete”, says Sensei. “Come on Rayleigh and Kayle I have a task for both of you”
“What about me”, I ask. He points to the blood on the ground and walks away. I throw the wet towel over my face and lay on the hot concrete until my nose bleed stops. Once I remove the towel from my face it's a bloody mess. I sigh, “Well I can't use this to clean up the rest of the blood”, I say to myself. I I throw the towel on the ground and just look up at the sky. Yawn* “Exhausted”, I say to myself. I close my eyes and I'm back to where it all changed. “Dad, Dad”, I yell running down the hallway excitedly. “Look what I found”. I bust into the room to show him the flower me and Andrew picked. “Alvin what have I told you about entering my office without knocking”, he says sternly. “Uh to not to”, I say thoughtfully. “ Then why di-. He exhale, “Never mind show me what you found this time”. “Guess”, I say. “Mmm is it a rock”? “Noooo”, I say happily. “Well it must be valuable then, cause all you show me are rocks”, he says. “No I don't remember that goldstone I brought you”? “You mean that painted rock”, he says. I widen my eyes. “W-what”, I ask. “I thought that was real”. Father laughs, “You my son and I love you but as your mom would say, your not the sharpest knife in the kitchen”. I think to myself ,“but all knives are sharp”. “Anyway are you going to show me what you found”, Dad says. I slowly pull the flower from behind my back. The flower has a cold black, a blood red, and little features of bright purple. “Whoa, I've never seen this one before”, Dad says. “Here let me hold it”. I hand him the flower and he carefully examines it. He hands it back to me. “Take this to your mother, she may know what it is”. “If she knows,let me know this flower could be worth money”. I run through the house shouting mom's name and bump into my older brother Simon. The flower flies out my hand, over the rune of the stairs. “Crap”, I say. “Watch where you're going”, I yell. Simon narrows his eyes. “You was running”, he says bitterly. I try to push past him but he uses his wooden sword to block my way down the stairs. “Apologize”, he says. I sigh, “Fine I'm sor-”. I kick him in the groin and rush past him. “I'm sorry that you thought, you was getting a apology”, I laugh. I rush down the stairs and get the flower before and head outside to the garden. “Mom, Mom are you out here”, I ask. “Yes dear”, she says in her honey voice. If I had to save either mom or dad, it would definitely be mom. I love dad and all I just love mom more. Her long brown hair, her hazel eyes,  sweet voice, her smile. I wish I had more of her features. I was only blessed with my dad's red eyes, black hair, and long pointy ears. The only thing i inherited from my mom was her human blood and the name half human. Don't get me wrong I like the way I look but if I had my mom features then I'd be the most adorable kid in town. “Mom, can you tell me what kind of flower this is”, I ask. I hand her the flower and her eyes light up. “Where did you find this”, she ask warmly. “The uh garden”, I lie. “Alvin what have I told you about lying”, she says. “I could never grow something this extraordinary”. I look down. “Me and Andrew found it outside of Yolander”, I mutter. “You left town”, she yells. “I'm sorry mom, Andrew said nothing would happen and he was right”, I said. “Did I just sellout Andrew”, I think to myself. “You need to stop letting Andrew convince you”, she says. “Don't you know how dangerous it is out there”. “Bandits, wild animals, poisonous plants”, she continues. “I'm sorry”, I said. “I'm not hurt and look I brought something rare”. She gives the flower another look and looks at me. “Your not hurt so I'm going to let this good, please don't do this again”. A wave of happiness and relief washed over me. “But I will tell your dad about this”, she says. My heart sunk, It felt like all that relief and happiness just dried up. “This flower is very beautiful, but I'm not sure which one this is”, Mom says. “Come on I have a flower book for this”. She leads me to the personal family library. As we walk back into the house, i see Simon has finally recovered from that kick to the groin. “Mom this little monster kicked me”, he growls. Mom keeps walking as if she didn't hear anything. “Mom”, Simon Continues. “Huh, what”, she ask? “I said Alvin kicked me”, he says. “Simon your 13, he's 8”, Mom says. She looks back at the flower and leaves me and Simon. I rush back to catch back up with her but Simon grabs a hold of my shirt. “Payback time squirt”, he says. I turn and kick him in the groin again. He lets out a feminine cry and falls to the ground. I quickly chase after mom. I enter the library, I see she's sitting down flipping through a huge book. “Alvin, take this book and flip through it till you see a picture of the flower”, she orders. She hands me a picture book that's called Understanding Flowers. It's a book that gives you the flower names and picture. I sit beside her and get to work. She looks really engaged in the flower. It  explains why she ignored Simon back there. I knew mom liked flowers but this is a new level. I smile to myself and say, “Don't worry mom we'll find its name”. She doesn't say anything or look up from the book.

  We sit in the library for hours and I'm starting to think this flower isn't recorded. I keep convincing myself that maybe I missed a page or two in the books she's given me. “Mom I give up”, I say. “I don't think this one is recorded”. “I think you're right honey”, she says disappointedly. “I'm not giving up tho, this is a amazing find”. “I'm going to take this to Mela, I bet she could find this out for me”. Mela is my mom's best friend, she is really smart and know just about everything about the outside of Yolander. “Mom why are you so interested in that flower”, I ask. She ignores my question. “Alvin clean up these books for me”, she says. “Tell your dad I'll be home late”. She delicately, grabs the flower and rush out the library. I knew mom loved   flowers, but this was like an obsession. I look at the mess we made, “Clean up all this, alone”, I chuckle. “That flower reallys gotten to her head, she's crazy if she thinks I'm cleaning up her mess”. I make my way towards the exit. I close the door to the library and head up to my room. I was hoping not to run into Simon on my way. I kept a slow, cautious walk and made as little noise as possible. I'm halfway up the stairs when I noticed the house is completely quiet. “Dad”, I call out. No response. “Simon”. No response. I run up the stairs and peak into dad's office. It's too dark to see anything, I push the door open and flip on the light. “Dad wh-”, I stop. The room is empty. “Mmm, I've never been in here alone before”, I say to myself. I run around the house and check every room to make sure no one's around. After I've checked every room, closet, and bathroom 
I shout, “I have the house to myself”. I walk up to my room and grab my blanket of my bed. I tie it around my neck so it looks like a cape. “What's a prince to do when his subjects are nowhere to be found”, I yell happily. “Maybe I should invite Sir Andrew over and talk politics”, I chuckle. *knock *knock *knock. My heart sinks. “Back already”. I run down the stairs but stop halfway, remembering I left dad's office light on and door open. I rush back up the stairs, flip the light off, and close the door. I rush back down the stairs but lose my footing and go stumbling down. Once I'm done falling I leap back to my feet and rush to the door. “I'm coming dad, I just uh seen a spider”, I shout. I yank the door open, “Sorry tha-”. I pause when I see Andrew confused face. “Dude all that for a spider”, he says. “N-no I slipped down the stairs”, I say embarrassed. Andrew laughs. Even though my leg is killing me I smile through the pain. “Come in, I'm home alone”. “I know”, he says. “I your dad and brother heading outside the town and your mom with Miss Mingle. “Alvin why did you give her that flower”, he says. “I asked her what kind of flower it was and she just in love with it”. Andrew Exhale. “Well there goes our gold mine”. I shrug my shoulders. “I doubt that flower was worth anything anyway”, I said. Me and Andrew walk upstairs. “Want to examines my dad's office”, I ask. Andrew widen his eyes. “Do you want to die”, he ask. Andrew is really afraid of my dad, but he has good reason to be. My father is arguably the best swordsman in town. I remember one time some Bandits came into Yolander looking for trouble, biggest mistake ever; my father dealt with them before the guards could show up. “Don't worry, he won't know we were there”. “Ok fine, but if you get caught don't bring my name up at all”. “Dude I'd never rat you out”. I think back to earlier with the flower. “Hehe sorry Andrew it slipped out”, I think to myself.

 Before we head into my dad's room, we go to my room to get suited up. “Captain Owens there's no idea what we will see in here, we need to be prepared”, says Andrew. “Your right sergeant Matthews, we may not make it out of here alive”, I said. I give Andrew my extra wooden sword, grab my own and head to my dad's office. We slowly creep out of my room and down the long hallway. “Andrew take the lead I’ll watch your back”. No response. “Andrew”? 
*Toilet flushes. He walks out the bathroom. “Whooo, ok now what you say”, he ask. “Andr-, u ruin-, ugh nevermind let's just look around this room before my dad gets back”.  We open the door and enter the room. “Alvin I'm scared”, says Andrew. I turn on the light. I've never gotten a good look at his room. On the wall is the Yolander Flag, his old sword, a few old photos of the family, his armor set, and some hides. “Wow it looks amazing in here, no wonder he sits in here all day”, I said. “Feel free to look around, just make sure if u touch something put it back where you found it”. He nods and picks up a book off the shelf. I walk towards the sword I saw earlier on the wall. I look deeply at the sword. “X-K”, I mumble. My father had plenty of rare swords but X-K was different. It's not a rare sword, it's also not a common one, it's just different. The sword was jet black, with a red grip and If you look close enough at the point you can see a tiny shade of red. Father said it was blood but I don't believe it, I just think the person that created this sword was just a amazing blacksmith, that thought outside the box. Father told us the found the sword was found in Reachers Skreich. Reachers Skreich is a very old cave, one of many living place for the Ghents. Without realizing, I'm pulling at the sword and quickly jump back. I hit the desk, knocking over papers. “Whoa you ok, did u see another spider”, ask Andrew. “Shut up”, grumble in pain. He grins and go back to reading the book. I pick up the papers I knocked over. I notice a letter from the town's Mayor. “Hey Andrew look at this”. He puts the book down and walks towards me. “It's a letter from the mayor, looks important”, I said. “Read it”, he says. “Dear Lagrou Owens, I have horrible news,10X Anarchy is coming. I've done my best to appease them with promises and gold, but they just keep sending me swords. I fear it's the worst, Yolander isn't ready for war. We need to meet up at our usual spot and figure this out. I'm sorry to send this so suddenly but I received the news from scouts last week. The people of Yolander can't know of this so after you read this letter destroy it. The meeting time is 15:00”.  My blood goes cold, I try to find the words but I'm speechless. “W-war”, says Andrew. “Who are 10X Anarchy”, he ask. I don't say anything. My wooden sword falls from my hand. I grab the letter with both hand and reread the letter. “10X Anarchy are coming”. I read that part over and over. I crumble up the paper and throw it across the room. “Andrew see what you can find on 10X Anarchy”. He nodes his head and starts ripping books off the shelf. I look through the drawers for for anything useful. I find a diary, likely my dad's. “Andrew I found something, my dad's diary”. “So did I”, he says. Andrew holds up a green book labeled, Wyndham. “This is the name of the city, the Mayor was trying to appease”,says Andrew. “Let's read the diary first”, I suggest. Andrew lays the green book down on the desk. I open the diary to the first page and read out loud. “The night before The Yolander Crummengal battle. Well here I go, my first battle is tomorrow, gotta say I'm scared as hell, the general said there's nothing to be afraid of, he will lead us to victory at RayrothCayon”. “The Orcs won't expect a landslide from the cliffs but it's going to take more than some boulders to stop a massive orc army”. As I go into battle tomorrow, I hope I live to see my beloved wife Daluren and my unborn son Simon”. I look up at Andrew. “Alvin I'd love to hear about your dad's stories but we need t-” “Yea, I know sorry I just got into it”. I flip the pages until I'm close to the back. “Andrew i found something to do with Wyndham”. “This one is the called the Eastern Campaign”. “Let me read it”, he ask. “Why”, I ask. “Because you read last time”, he says. “So”, I say annoyed. “What you mean so”, he says. “I thought this was a team thing and besides you read slow”. I exhale. “Andrew there is a Army coming to kill us and you want to complain about how I read”. “Alvin I'm just saying that by the the time you're done reading they will have already killed us”. “Andrew that doesn't make sense, how will I be done reading if I'm dead already”, I yell. “Were wasting time just let me read the book”. I throw him the book. I was expecting a smug grin or a taunt but he did neither. He flipped to the page and begun reading. 
  “Yolander-Wyndham Alliance”. Today we have orders from the Mayor to assist Wyndham. Wyndham is a huge thriving city, just like Yolander but the long war against the rebels in the East and the constant raids from the bandis have left the city low on resources. The Mayor thinks the rebels and Bandits are working together to end Wyndham. Wyndham is relatively a peaceful city, I don't understand why anyone would want see it gone. It's none of my business anyway I need to focus on my family and Yolander safety. If Yolander is to have a future we need Allies, which brings us to our mission. It's simple, get the resources to Wyndham, subdue the rebels and bandits, and ensure no one else dies. Just another day in the life of Lagrou”. “That's the end of that, says Andrew. “Read the rest of the diary, it should give us the answers”, I said. Andrew nods his head and goes back to the book. “Little Secret”. “The job is done and I'm excited. I get to go home to see my Wife and both my son's. Wyndham is secure and safe again. The Bandits and Rebels flee’d, the ones that weren't quick enough were put to death. Far as I'm concerned everything went good. There was something odd though. The general ordered digging on the outskirts of Wyndham. When I asked about it he just said following orders. This was done discreetly, which makes me wonder more of what the Mayors thinking. I try hard to stay positive and think about my family, but it's hard sometimes, especially when you do it every time you feel off about the Mayor's Orders. In school the kids are taught that Yolander is a honest, trustworthy city, fear there's more to Yolander then that's meets the eye. I have a family to look after so I will carry out my duties as a soldier, and hope after all these campaigns this is the last.”
After reading the last page of the book Andrew close the diary and lays it back on the desk. “Digging”, I said. “Alvin do you remember that hole, that was heavily guarded”, ask Andrew. “Yes, it came out nowhere”, I said “I remember asking dad about it one day and him avoiding the question”. I'm not the smartest but I'm not that dumb either, we dug that hole for a reason. “Alvin, I think we have been stealing from Wyndham”, he says gloomly.  I don't respond I just, I try thinking of a excuse for digging a big hole in two places without anyone knowing but nothing but one reason jumps out. I drop my head and mutter, “No, Yolander is a honest, trustworthy city we would never steal from allies, would we?” I close the diary. “Let's clean up in here, my father can't know we were here”. Andrew throws the wooden sword down and kicks my dad chair over. “Whoa calm down, that chair is expensive”, I yell. He ignores me and walk to a corner, sit down and bury his head in his hands . “I d-dont want to die Alvin I'm only nine”, he crys out. “Were not going to die Andrew” “If we don't fix everything in this office we are going to die, please help me”, I said. Andrew doesn't move. “Ok fine”, I mutter. I walk to the corner and sit beside him. “Me and you Andrew, we're the next generation of warriors”. “We are young and dumb now but one day we will be mature and dumb”. “As Crazy Rick would sa-”. “Ok first you need to stop listening to Crazy Rick”, Andrew cuts in. “Second this speech is terrible”, he laughs. “Let's just fix this office before your dad gets back”. I nod my head and we begun cleaning. 
       After an hour, we manage to fix everything in the office we headed to the kitchen for food. “Andrew can you cook”?
“Alvin, I'm nine”, he says dully. “Your point”, I ask? Andrew shakes his head. “
“Well today we lear-”.
     Dong* Dong* Dong* Dong* Dong*
I freeze, my blood starts to go cold. Fear enters my body. “The bell”, mumbles Andrew. Andrew sprint out of the house. “Andrew wait”, I shout. I chase him out the door and down the street. A crowd of worried people, all stands in front of town hall; looking up at the Mayor and three injured soldiers. The Mayor is sweating heavily and have a hopeless look on his face. “People of Yolander, I'm sorry I've been hiding this but our allies from Wyndham I'd coming to put us to the sword”. A few people gasp, but most seem confused. “We have been stealing from Wyndham”. The Mayor takes out a handkerchief, and wipes is flooded forehead. “Mayor that are you saying, we are a honest City we'd never steal from an ally”, shouts someone in a crowd. The Mayor just shakes his head. People in the crowd boo and throw a few things at the Mayor and three soldiers. “Please calm down people, we need to make a plan”. “These three soldiers are all that remains of Yolander army”. My blood goes cold. People of Yolander cry out and shout at the Mayor. I hear a familiar voice in the crowd. “Where Is my husband, please Mayor tell me he wasn't with those soldiers”. I look around and see my mom. She's still holding that flower, while her friend Mela try to comfort her. “I'm sorry, but Lagrou Owens has fallen in battle, along with his son Simon Owens”, says the mayor. Tears well up in my eyes, I feel several people in the crowd hugging me and telling me it's going to be ok. I don't say anything , the tears in my eyes says enough. My father, my hero was killed in battle along with my brother Simon. Simon and I never had that moment I wished for, we were always fighting, now I'd give anything just for five minutes of sounding like a wuss and telling him i loved him. My mom was a wreck, the flower she was holding became useless to her. She sobbed and held Mela. If anyone knew how my mom felt it had to be Mela, she's her beloved husband to war. No, she's lost her husband to the Mayor's greediness. “Mayor this is your fault”, shouts someone from the crowd”. I look over and it's Andrew. “Me and Alvin know”. The Mayor has a nervous look on his face. “Now isn't the time to fight each other, we need to figure out how to deal with the enemy”, says the Mayor. “No”, shouts Andrew. “If we're all going to die, I'm going to let them know your a traitor and a thief”. “Yes he admitted to stealing from Wyndham but what about the other city's Mayor”? The Mayor looks down and says nothing. “Andrew that's enough”, says one the injured soldiers. Andrew narrows his eyes at the soldier but says nothing else. Everyone goes quiet, the sound of sniffles and private conversations doesn't escape my ears. I hear something else, footsteps no marching. My heart sank. “It's them 10X Anarchy is here”, yells a scout. “Q-quick open the gate maybe we can appease them, work out an agreement”. Nobody says anything he just receives cold stares. The gate were lifted and I got a good view of Wyndham massive army, mainly due to the the women fleeing the scene. 10X Anarchy was in blue and black armor and had that symbol i seen on that Eastern Campaign book. My hand started shaking uncontrollably and curls up into a fist ready for a fight. To think my father fell to these monsters just disgusts me.
 I move close to Andrew. “Look at them, they share out customs too”, says Andrew. “Yea mixed race, not many cities go by that custom”, I say bitterly. Two huge Orcs approach the Mayor, one holding a massive sword and the other wearing combat gauntlet.  Pelendride walk up stage with the mayor. Fear sweeps over the Mayor face, his knees start to buckle but he holds his ground. “W-welcome allies from Wyndham I hope y-”. The Pelendride plunges his sword into the Mayor's gut. Everyone panics a few people evade the area. Not me, I stand there staring at the men that killed my father and brother. A part of me enjoys watching the mayor bleed out, gasping for air, another part of me want to see that Pelendride and his army dead. “Alvin we should get out of here”, says Andrew. I don't move. The Pelendride continues his assault on the Mayor. The soldiers and scouts just watch out of fear for their life. The Pelendride turns his back in the half dead Mayor and focus on what's left of the crowd.
“People of Yolander, meet your executioner”. “My name is Quloyo, I'm the military leader of Wyndham”. “Today I have strict orders to slaughter your Mayor and take all your resources”. “Luckily for you people, our leader didn't care what happened to you he just wanted your traitorous leader dead”. The Pelendride flap a powerful gust of wind at us with his wing. “Fragile bunch huh”, he teases. He look around, and grins. “I noticed your city follows are customs”. “Let's see here Human and elves only hmm shame I was hoping you would have more Ghents”. “Ghents are extent”, says someone in the crowd. “Who said That”, shouts Quloyo. Nobody raises their hand. “Fine have it your way, I was going to spare this thieving city but I guess I'll have to slaughter everyone here”, he says coldly. The Pelendride draws his sword and points at a men in the crowd. “You redhead farmer slop get up here”. Andrew gasp with a shocked look on his face. “D-dad”, mutters Andrew. A chill was still in my spine, the hatred and sorrow was still in my chest. I don't like this feeling I was getting from this. Wyndham soldier grabbed Andrews father by the back of the neck. “You heard Master general Quloyo, move human filth”, grunts the Orc bodyguard.” Andrew father curls up in pain. “P - please I'll give you anything want just please let me go”. The Orc and Wyndham soldiers coming through the gate laugh horsley. “Calm down dirt farmer I just want to demonstrate what happens when people interrupt my speeches”, growled Quloyo. Dragged to the stage, the innocent men begins begging for his life. “P-please, I didn't say anything, I have a son he's only a lad”. Andrew loudly grits his teeth and gets a grip of the wooden sword I gave him earlier. “Cut his hands off”, shouts someone from the Wyndham crowd. Quloyo grins. “Like I said calm down your not going to feel anything”, he says slyly. He turns away from Andrews dad who's on his knees praying at this point. “You see this man, he's being publicly humiliated because one of you interrupted my speech”. “Look at him pray to the gods, hehe you people need to stop relying on the sky”. Quloyo draws his glistening from it's a sheath and points it at the crowd. “This city had been stealing from us, so an eye for an eye”, he says darkly. “We were only going to come here, kill your Mayor, and anyone that got in the way but do to that interruption all the women are getting rapped and the kids are forced to watch”. Anger and fear combines in my body. The crowd cries out to the heavens and beg for forgiveness. Quloyo and the Wyndham soldiers laugh but that ends as soon as Quloyo puts his hand up. “People of Yolander that was only a joke”. “Were not the bad guys here, your city is”. “Were not rapist or thugs we are merely taking back everything that was stolen from us, by your so called royal army”. Everything goes quiet. All u hear are a few prayers and suddenly. *Slash. Blood sprays the entire stage. Andrew screams in horror. Without warning, Andrew father was gone. Decapitation. Blood squirt from his neck up and his lifeless body falls down. “Damn now that was a bleeder”, laughs Quloyo. “10X Anarchy enough laying around kill everyone in the city and bring all valuables to the crates”, yells Quloyo. The crowd screams and disperse. Killing left to right. Heads rolling off shoulders, trails of blood.  I grab Andrew hand and rush away from the scene. “Andrew we need to run”, I cry out. Andrew moves a bit faster. As we're running away I look back and see my mother, her and Mela are surrounded by a few Ghents, a Orc, and Humans. “Mom”, I scream. When she looks at me she yells, “Run my son, don't di-”. The human man stabs the spear through her stomach and she collapses. Mela trying her best to fight them off with her knife soon falls next. I stop running and look at the scene in horror. “M-mom, D-dad, my b-brother all lost in the same day I sob”. Andrew grabs me by the collar. “Alvin we can't stay here”, we have to leave the city. “We won't die here, we need to live on and get revenge”. I still don't move so Andrews doing the dragging now. Tears in both our eyes we curse the name 10X Anarchy.

      “Alvin”, shouts Gulo. “Clean this blood up before I make you balance buckets again. “Yea im doing it old man”. “I was just thinking about the Yolander Massacre. He throws me another wet towel. “Alvin, you will have your revenge soon”, says Gulo. “Your only 16 and  both you and Kayla have exceeded expectations”. I finish cleaning up the blood and make my way to the door inside the house. “I have raised you and Kayla, I'm very proud of both of you”. “We will make those who have wrong you suffer”. “I just ask that you don't hate Kayla, because she came from Wyndham doesn't mean she was like them”. I say nothing to Gulo and head straight into the house. I chuckle to myself after hearing that pathetic speech. “I have one main goal in life and that's slaughter everyone in or from Wyndham”, I say to myself.