The Quest for the
Sword of Ten Thousand Skulls
By: Sam Richardson
Prologue
First of all, allow me to explain the origins of the Sword of Ten Thousand Skulls… Forged in the fires of Mt. Barok the sword is made of an element called Diamantine. This blade was so sharp and so full of the magic energy of hundreds of mages that it could slice through the largest diamond imaginable like butter. One could sever a person’s head with the shear force of the air caused by the swinging of the blade. Hence how it got it’s name and reputation, other than the fact that the sheath and hilt were forged from those very same skulls. But that’s enough about the sword, now to tell the story of how a shadow wolf called Norim came to acquire the legendary blade.
Chapter 1
Well… one day Norim awoke to find his home village being destroyed. As he ran down the stairs he spotted strange men standing over his mother’s body. He didn’t know at the time that they were the men who killed her. His father was nowhere to be found.
He had to get out of there without being spotted by the invaders. Unfortunately one of the assailants saw Norim before he was even halfway to the door. He came at Norim but his mother shielded him with her body. She hadn’t been dead before, but now he was certain that her spark had been extinguished. The limp body of his shadow wolf mother laying on top of him gushing with crimson blood was a dead giveaway.
He rolled his mother off of him just in time to se his father and his uncle Xine killing off the assailants. He watched as his shadow wolf father and his shadow wolf uncle took damage and dished out punishment. Norim’s father got hit in the throat by one of the men and crumpled to the floor.
Norim shouted in fear and anger, and he finally snapped. He grabbed one of the assailants in his jaws and shredded his throat. Then he charged and with all his force head butted two more assailants through the wall. And finally he killed off the remaining three with ne fearsome slash of his unbelievably sharp claw.
He ran to his father’s side as Kage who was a member of the Elder Council trudged into the house stained in blood. His father said, “Be… Godfather to… my son.” But Kage heard, “Be God to my so.” Xine understood and Kage’s ignorance blurred his mind.
Norim gathered his parents bodies and gave them a proper burial in the family graveyard. He then grabbed all his essential belongings and headed out. After two days of walking Norim arrived at the Shadow Wolf City of Daughn. As Norim walked by an Inn he heard two Shadow Wolves talking about a sword so sharp it could cut through huge diamonds like hot butter. It was at that very instant that Norim’s quest for the sword began.
Chapter 2
The next day Norim woke up and set off on his search for the legend. He had already purchased food and healing herbs for the journey the day before. He wasn’t even 15 minutes into his journey when Norim was completely surrounded by corrupt Shadow Bears.
Shadow wolves and Shadow Bears were never very close which just meant that corrupt Shadow Bears were 5x more dangerous than normal Shadow Bears. Norim knew he couldn’t win alone 15 to 1 so he howled as loudly as he could over and over again. Within two minutes a huge group of Shadow Wolf guards showed up. When the corrupts realized how many guards had come they retreated.
After this incident Norim decided it would be wise to receive war training before starting on his quest.
Chapter 3
After two years of intense mental and physical training had passed, Norim was finally ready. He left the training ground and went to the armory. Here he purchased the finest made katana he had ever laid eyes on… he was finally ready.
Norim thought to himself that he would like to see those Shadow Bears try to take him on now. He left the city and returned to his home village to gather some followers and leave flowers at his parents grave. Once he arrived Norim was greeted with cheering and praise. They obviously remembered how he had eradicated the human threat two years earlier.
Norim went to the front door of Kalidor’s hut to see if he would join him on his quest. He was home and he was ready to attack any who threatened him. When Norim entered the hut Kalidor pounced but his attack quickly turned into a playful tackle when he saw who had entered. When Kalidor finally got off of Norim he laid out his proposal. Norim was well liked among most of the Shadow Wolves.
Once he had finished Kalidor said, “You’re my best friend, I can’t let you risk death and loss of limb alone.” So they left and went to find some more members. Their next stop was Kandrell’s home. Only he wasn’t inside, he was trying to sneak up on Norim and Kalidor.
As soon as he jumped Norim turned around and threw 15% of his full force at Kandrell. He fell to the ground and laughed. Greetings were passed and Norim laid out his proposal for Kandrell to consider. Then he remembered that the town meeting was to be held that very night. He would lay out his plan before the entire town and hope that they got some takers.
The day after the meeting 3 more recruits showed up on Norim’s door step. Their names were Bartos, Mikiel, and Arnos. They were now a band of 6 brothers. Or at least they would have to act like brothers to survive the perilous journey to come.
So they took one week to train their weak points and hone their skills until finally the day had come for Norim to honor his parents. He left flowers at their grave and the group started to leave town. At the entrance Norim stocked up on supplies from a traveling vendor. After one week of rest (or so it will be considered after the days to come) they set out on their journey.
Moving swiftly through the underbrush they made their way towards the mountain. The group had gone a mere five miles when they were surrounded by the same shadow bears that had harassed Norim only two years earlier. Only difference was… this time Norim was prepared for an attack. The Shadow Bears reared their ugly heads, and the Shadow Wolves attacked.
Norim had taught the others some of the skills he had learned from his War Training. But he was about to do something unthinkable. He took on a human form. He had acquired this gift during his second year of training.
Both his enemies and his allies were utterly shocked. In appearance he had no shirt, a long leather trench coat, black jeans, long black hair, a scar down the back and down the left side of his face, and a bull whip. He slowly unsheathed his Katana and went into what humans would call a “Ready” position. When he saw the bear behind him charging he stepped out of the way and the Shadow Bear literally fell to pieces.
But he hadn’t actually stepped out of the way. He had boosted his speed 10 fold and butchered that Shadow Bear, thereby creating the illusion of having stepped out of the way. The bears were so awe struck that they were easy prey for Norim’s friends. They took what they could from the bodies and made off with a hefty supply of meat, bear hides and claws.
That night they had already traveled well over 50 miles. So they set up camp and went to work. The created Shadow Fire so they could melt down the claws and cook the meat. They used the melted claws to create an assortment of shadow weapons. And they used the hides to make rope and whips.
As Xine had always said, “The best weapons are home made weapons!” When they had finished they had brand new shadow axes and shadow swords, etc. They also had newly made Shadow whips and a hefty bit of left over bear meat.
Norim’s group turned in early that night for they had just begun their journey. They wanted t have as much energy as possible for the obstacles to come. They were in the easy parts of their quest at this point, but this wouldn’t last for very long. For they were only on the outskirts of the forest, they hadn’t even reached the inner dangers yet.
The next day they continued on into the jungle. After about five minutes they were blind-sided by another group of the shadowy men that robbed Norim of any normalcy he once had. The others backed down like cowards while Norim snapped because the mere sight of the men opened old wounds and dredged up horrible memories. He threw his weight against one of them at full force snapping the man in two.
Norim grabbed the second man by the throat and tore it open, letting the blood just wash over his tongue. He refused to lose to the ones responsible for the deaths of his family. Norim jumped u and pinned one of the men to a tree and turned into a human. He quickly unsheathed his Katana and stuck the man like a pig. The last two men began to retreat but Norim killed them both with a sharp javelin-like stick he had found.
His followers stared at him in amazement. They never met anyone who could hold a grudge for that long. Norim noticed a black form behind him and turned just in time to have a club smash into his face. Well, he wakes up in a dark, dank room with all his possessions gone. His mates started asking about our location and what the time was. Norim knew none of this info so he started to formulate an escape plan. He came up with quite a few good plans… and quite a few horrible plans.
Chapter 4
First he tried to eat his way through the cell door. When that plan failed he tried to howl as loud as he could to break the door. But that plan didn’t work either… this was becoming tiresome. So in a last ditch effort Norim threw his full force at the door.
The door curled from the shear force and toppled to the floor. They all left the cell and started searching for their stolen equipment. Norim started searching the other rooms but only one door was locked. It was reinforced 4 times which told Norim that this was definitely the door.
Unfortunately Norim couldn’t break through so they would have to find the key. The group had to hide because a group of guards was passing through. Norim decided it would be better to kill them and search the bodies for the key, so he went on the offensive.
He simply boosted his sped so it looked as though he had teleported. But when he reappeared their throats had been slashed. The guards dropped and they lapped up the blood, being carnivores and all. Then they looted the corpses and found human money, and a key.
Norim turned into a human so he could use his opposable thumbs to turn the key. Low and behold, there was all of their possessions. This included the meat and weapons they had made the night before, if that much time had even passed yet that is. Now they could move on with their quest for the legendary sword.
Norim led the way to the exit passage of the dungeon. As soon as they reached it an entire platoon of those men blocked their path. Norim’s brothers backed away… would they ever find the courage to stand and fight? Norim stood his ground and having not left his human form he unsheathed his sword.
The men grew darker and more shadowy. But he could tell that this change was a cover to hide the fact that their morale was rapidly dropping. He returned to his “ready” position with the blade pointing at their jugulars. The shadow men gulped deeply and rubbed their throats as he prepared to lunge. In the blink of an eye the entire crowd was on the ground with throats cut open.
The shadow wolves’ leader Norim filled five jars with the blood and headed for the upper levels with his friends right behind him. When they reached the top they found that they were farther away from the mountain. This must have been the base of operations for the shadow men. The Shadow Wolves decided to destroy it and move on.
Chapter 5
They had to go back in to destroy the base from the Control Room. So they headed back into the shadowy depths of the complex. Then they headed for the Mess Hall because from there they could go up and get direct access to the Control Room. Once they reached the Mess Hall Norim howled so loud that everyone there died because the sound put too much strain on their heads.
Norim looted the bodies and found more human money, 5 Shadow Wolf Fangs, and 3 Saber-toothed Wolf Fangs. Afterwards they headed up the Mess Hall stairs and through the door at the end of the hallway. They were now in the Control Room. Norim turned into his human form and turned the lever with his hands activating the self-destruct sequence.
Norim used his tremendous strength and speed to get the whole group out of there before the 10 second count-down ended. They were 50 miles away by the time the base imploded. That was when Norim realized that the blast radius was usually 50 miles exactly. So he moved them to a seventy mile distance. As soon as they escaped they were attacked by Saber-toothed Wolves.
Norim decided to let his brothers handle this fight. So the Saber-toothed Wolves pounced at them and his brothers dodged. Norim used another new ability so he wouldn’t have to dodge their attacks. He used an incineration barrier that he had learned while training with his brothers.
His barrier incinerated two of the eight Saber-toothed Wolves. He was waiting for his brothers to make their move. Finally he impatiently shouted, “Fight back and kill them! You iced the bears!!” These words seemed to give them the confidence they needed to fight back.
His brothers slaughtered the foe with an amazing show of brute force. They took their heads, claws, teeth, and hides. That night they melted down the claws and teeth with Shadow Fire and made Shadow Carta Armor. They disposed of the heads and made the hides into blankets for sleeping.
The next day they decided to make a training facility here. So they got wood and sinew to start construction. The wood would be used for the fences, buildings, and different training areas. The sinew would be used to hold the wood together because nails and hammers weren’t exactly an option.
They had to improvise for the training equipment since they had no way of getting real equipment without back-tracking hundreds of miles. They had their weapons that they had created and Norim put an anti-fatality spell on the complex. He also put up a barrier that kept out anything that was in the least bit corrupt.
As soon as they finished building the complex they went to sleep. The next day he started trying to teach his brothers the barrier abilities he had learned. They trained for the next 3 years, hunting in the woods for their food and more wood to create a fire to cook on and use for light. After a while the team was ready to continue on.
Chapter 6
They bounded towards the mountain in hopes that they could get there without opposition. As they drew closer the temperature started to rise. Then pools of fire began popping up to the left and the right. After a short while they reached a very steep incline indicating that they had reached the mountain.
As they headed up the mountain they encountered multiple bursts of fire. Kandrell shouted, “Watch out! Fire to your right!” But Arnok swerved too hard and slid into the wave of flames. He was seriously injured, so they had to rest and give him medical attention.
After applying healing herbs to all of his wounds, they decided to have a little five-way sparring match. Five hours into their bout they were ambushed. They had blacked out because they were slightly tired when the Shadow Men attacked.
They came to in yet another cell only something was different this time. This time they were in several different cells. Norim busted the door and found that his friends doors were reinforced like the last one. Not only were their doors reinforced, but the room with their inventory was reinforced as well.
The Shadow Men would have been well prepared, had they not posted sentries with keys outside the doors. Norim took his human form and silently snapped every other human neck. He took the keys, rescued his friends, and recovered their inventory. He made finding their leader his secondary objective.
The team headed to the Control Room, but there was someone inside. Norim told Arnok to take the others and escape. Once they had gone Norim quietly crept up behind the man. He turned the chair around and found a shell that had been split down the middle and cleaned out.
His inner workings were all over the floor and walls. This mans ribs were shattered outward, and his skull had been literally crushed in. This was something Norim had never seen before. He couldn’t leave until he found the thing that did this and killed it.
He left to search the complex… there were corpses everywhere. They had all been mutilated just like the man in the Control Room. After a while Norim found Kandrell on the ground, he tried to wake him. He rolled him over and found he had been slaughtered like the other humans.
At this sight Norim keeled over and threw up all over the place. Then he sat up against the wall and sobbed at the top of his lungs. Norim was a tough Shadow Wolf, but when it came to losing some one he was an emotional wreck. He shouted, “NNOOOO!!!!”, several times as he sobbed. He knew that this time his friend would not be coming back from the brink of death. He knew that Arnok was gone for good, since about 10 minutes prior to the discovery of his body.
Chapter 7
Norim snapped. Whatever had done this to his little buddy had gone way too far. Killing the enemy was no problem, but killing his friend was a very bad idea. He wiped away the tears, gave his friend a proper burial and picked up the scent of his friend’s killer.
It smelled of rotting flesh and maggots mixed with blood. Norim went 70 miles to the complex, went past the bodies to the Control Room, and set the self-destruct countdown. Norim then ran and followed the putrid odor of the creature. The rancid smell led him to an enormous cave in the middle of the forest.
The creature would pay for what it did to Norim’s friend. He went in and tracked it to a very dark room near the back of the cave. He tried to adjust his vision, but before he finished it jumped and pinned him. Norim was petrified with fear at the sight of the hideous abomination.
It had a deformed head with one side of it’s face looking like it began to melt but hardened again. It had 4 arms made of rotting fleshy human appendages. It was most definitely not human, or it was once upon a time. The smell of rotting human flesh was unbearable and it was getting worse. Especially when it was so close to my nose.
Norim needed a plan but the smell was blurring his mind and his eyes began to tear up. He began to wonder if this was going to be the end. But then he heard four howls and before he knew it the abomination was in flames. Norim jumped to his feet and drew his Katana from it’s sheathe. Then he swooped in and finished the job completely dismembering the creature.
The fowl creature fell to pieces and Norim left the cave with his remaining four friends. At the entrance to the cave they heard a very loud, very pissed off roar. That was their cue to turn tail and run as fast as they could away from the noise. They knew it would pursue them, even into the physical realm if they had to resort to going there.
They continued toward the mountain and set up camp. That night Arnok and Norim built a shrine to Kandrell. After paying their respects the Shadow Wolves went to sleep. They decided to take turns watching for the creature, it was still somewhere out there.
At sun rise they put a protective barrier around the shrine and left. After a while they hit the same incline from before. As they headed up they heard a thundering sound. They all looked back and saw the creature bounding towards them at high speed.
This helped boost their speed which they were seriously lacking. Before they knew it they were at the top of the mountainous volcano. As soon as they reached the top, the creature stopped it’s pursuit. Norim told his friends to stay behind and went into the volcano’s depths.
He couldn’t be sure how long he had been falling, but when he landed he used the force of the landing to boost his jumping power. He launched himself into the middle of the volcano where, stuck in a pedestal was the Sword of Ten Thousand Skulls. He tried to pull the sword out of the rock, but it was just too tight.
So in a fit of rage Norim thrust his fist down on the sword’s blade. The shockwave it created caused the pedestal to crack open releasing the sword. So Norim grabbed the sword and sheath, and teleported straight to the top where his friends were waiting. His friends yelped in surprise when he reappeared right beside them.
Chapter 8
There was only one last thing to do now. They had to get by that creature and kill the leader of the Shadow Men. They headed toward the beasts location and made a sharp right turn. They knew that if they could blind-side it, then they could win this fight. Norim told Arnok to hold back with the others and wait for his signal.
He moved ahead alone and drew his newly acquired sword. The beast appeared “let down” as he blind-sided him. Probably because it was the Protector of the sword. He jumped and swung… but missed… the beast then fell in two pieces.
The legend was true! The shear force of the air cut it into two pieces. It didn’t pull itself back together after the pieces landed on the ground either. So in his adolescent foolishness he left, assuming he had won. The day was indeed his at this point in time.
Big foolish mistake on Norim’s part! He went back and got his friends and they headed back to the Shadow Wolf City of Daughn. They headed for the Inn and along the way heard about an armor made from the bones of demons during the Crescent Moon. It is supposedly impenetrable during the Crescent moon and nearly impenetrable at all other times.
Supposedly it can’t be damaged by normal weaponry. Well, it was time for another quest. They had lost 1 member of their party so it was time to return home for a rest. When they got there they were welcomed by Kandrell’s wife.
When she saw the looks on their faces she took a seat. They had to be as calm as possible so as to not make things worse. They explained what happened and she sobbed in grief and in fear for us. A few hours later they were returning to Norim’s house when Arnok stopped and said, “I hate having to do that!”
They returned to his home and sparred for a while. When it got dark they all went inside and got ambushed by more of those Shadow Men. This was becoming a hindrance to Norim and his friends. They just killed and ate the Shadow Men. They left nothing but the bones behind and tossed them carelessly off the grounds.
Their flesh tasted better than they had expected it to. After they cleaned up they all went to sleep. The next day about an hour after sun rise they left the home in search of a replacement. Unfortunately no one in my home village would volunteer.
So they left the village, but on the way out of town somebody stopped them. They turned around and saw Celia bounding toward them. When she reached them she said, “I’ll go!” Since they weren’t that great at saying the word no, they let her come.
Chapter 9
They already knew they’d find the armor somewhere with a good view of the Crescent Moon. There were only two places Norim knew that had a view of the Crescent Moon that fit the specifications. Those two places were Mt. Zaieg and the cave where Norim had been attacked. They would check both places, just to be safe.
Unfortunately, those stupid men still wouldn’t give up on capturing them. They were ambushed yet again by the stupid humans. Norim was getting sick of this so very quickly. Yet this time, he came to with cables attached to his body sending thousands of volts of electricity into his body.
No cells this time, only a series of torture chambers using a variety of techniques. Norim’s friends were lined up in a row being forced to watch his suffering. He had been far better off when he was unconscious. He could now see how painful this was for his friends.
Norim realized that he had to break free from the table somehow. He couldn’t bear to let his friends go through this sort of agonizing pain as well. He closed his eyes and started to build up his aura around him. In a matter of seconds he had launched the newly formed shell outwards and killed their captors.
He dropped off the post and laughed weakly as his friends helped him to his feet. They left the torture chamber after retrieving the key. They got their inventory and headed up towards the control room. When they reached the top Norim saw a massacre just like the one in the last compound.
He also smelled the rotting flesh and maggots from before. He looked over and said, “Get the hell out of here!” The others knew about Norim’s concern and left in a hurry. He scanned the room and thought, “No one deserves to die like this… even if it is them!”
He knew the complex had to be destroyed but he was so afraid of that creature. It truly was following them. And Celia was in the mix now, he couldn’t risk her life. She was the only female he had ever liked, so he didn’t plan on letting her die.
He heard bumping up in the Control Room so, against his better judgment he went to check it out. When Norim opened the door there was the creature holding a living man over it’s head. He watched in horror as it bent the man, reached up with its two free hands, and ripped him open like a zip lock bag.
He snuck up as it ate his innards and set the self-destruct sequence. He high-tailed it out of there and as he exited the creature spotted him. It took pursuit and Norim ran to the Cave. They were all there and it was night-time.
The thing had gotten caught in the blast before it had time to escape. The team got a branch and lit it with a fire breath attack. Celia and Norim went in while the rest of the group held back to keep an eye out just in case. They entered the room and the light went out for no reason.
They saw a dim light at the center of the room. It looked like there was something there in the moonlight. When they reached the center they saw a shirt, gloves, pants, and boots. But as soon as the Crescent Moons light hit the ensemble it became beautiful Crimson armor.
This was the legendary Crimson Armor. It wasn’t the Crescent Armor but it was very good. They took it and headed back to the others. He bestowed ownership of the Crimson Armor to Celia for she was very dear to Norim.
Chapter 10
They left the cave and continued their search for the Crescent Armor. This was becoming too much excitement for the fearless Shadow Wolves and their leader. Norim guessed that Mt. Zaieg would be their last chance to acquire the Crescent Armor. So they headed east toward the ocean to find a way across.
Mt. Zaieg resides on an area across the ocean from where they were at this point in time. So they “commandeered” a ship and headed for the other side of the ocean. About five minutes into their trip a nasty storm hit them and it carried a few surprises with it. There were thousands of water demons hidden in the clouds being unleashed with the rain.
Well, the Wolves were in a pretty tight bind at this point. They were in a rain storm preventing any fire attacks from being used. But wait! They had also learned a few nifty electric elemental attacks.
So Norim unleashed a devastating barrage of electrical attacks on the water demons. All the water demons were fried from the inside out. However, it also set their ship ablaze leaving them in an even worse position than they had been in before. The rain put the fire out quick enough though.
They repaired the damaged ship and continued on their way to Mt. Zaieg. They were half-way to the other side when they were blind-sided by another ship. The ship hooked onto them and boarded their boat in a matter of minutes. It was more of those God-forsaken Shadow Men to ruin the day.
First they invaded his home and now they had invaded his ship!!? These guys needed to die so badly! They all realized it and prepared for a fight. But a rumbling came from behind them and they turned around. It turned out that the beast had hidden itself onboard while they were prepping the ship to set sail.
They quickly jumped out of the way and the beast toppled over the railing. It took the men and boarding ladders with it as it fell. Norim assessed the damage and said, “Well I guess we should total their ship and move on!” So they blew it to splinters with some of their most explosives attacks.
As the ship sank they continued on their way. At this point, Norim couldn’t care less if there was anyone on the ship. He decided to go fishing even though the sky was very dark. As soon as the bait hit the water, he got a bite!
It was a big one, a really freaking big one! Norim pulled as hard as he could and caught a 72 inch 150 lb. Catragen fish. He cast out again and instantly got another bite. Only this time it wasn’t a fish of any kind.
Chapter 11
The creature was slowly climbing up the fishing line towards the ship. As soon as Norim realized what he was doing, he let go of the string. When he turned around his friends asked, “What’s wrong?” When he regained his voice he said, “It had 4 arms and a face where the skin was draping over the rotted muscle tissue and flesh! It was a very bad fish!”
After having some bear meat stew, they went to their living quarters. He didn’t know about the others, but Norim started training his swordsmanship and physical attack. Tomorrow he’d teach them hot to take on a human form. That night he had dreams of past wars, death, and utter destruction.
The next day he began training them intensely so he could bestow upon them human forms. You see you have to be a certain level of strength to be able to maintain a human form. And he needed them to have human forms before they made landfall. But they didn’t anticipate the coming storm.
As soon as the storm hit they realized that there wasn’t a big-enough crew to keep the ship from crashing. They spotted an island and aimed the ship for it. At this point they blacked out. When they came to, they realized they had made it to the island.
But they didn’t know how they ended up on the main part of the island. This was weirder than they could handle at the moment. Norim’s buddies headed for the beach and saw their shattered ship. When they made it back to the main area, they fell on the ground in despair.
Why was this happening to them, and where was Mikiel? They began to comb the island for Mikiel when they saw something under a pile of large logs. It was Mikiel… the force of the collision had thrown him into the rock face, and the tremor had knocked this huge pile from the top of the cliff onto him. He had died by the time the first log had hit him.
Chapter 12
Norim carried Mikiel on his shoulders to a good burial site. Unfortunately he had no restoration abilities powerful enough to bring Mikiel back. He called the group together and they gave Mikiel a proper funeral. After saying a few words and building a shrine, Norim remembered that Mikiel wasn’t heavy enough to cause a tremor that strong, no matter how hard the ship tossed him.
He went back to the pile of logs and found a few scraps of rotting flesh. That freaking monster had killed another one of Norim’s friends. The armor search has been put on hold… indefinitely. This creature had to go and they had to train.
Norim’s friends begged for a break but as Xine always used to tell Norim, “Breaks will get you killed, I know from experience.” So breaks were a luxury that they couldn’t afford to have, no matter how much thy begged. The others began building a huge training complex of epic proportions. After it was built Norim put another anti-fatality spell and protective barrier around it.
Once that was done they trained for 10 more years, non-stop. Afterward Norim decided that they were ready for a human form to be taught to them. The next day at noon they all worked on repairing the ship using their “hands”. It took them 4 weeks to repair the extensive damage inflicted upon the ship.
Then once they had finished they set off for Mt. Zaieg again. After 7 weeks of water demons, and pirates… they made landfall. They’d made landfall in a deserted city. As they walked they saw broken windows, blood smears, and burn marks.
This felt so much like something Norim had seen before when he used his future sight in the past. It was extremely weird and yet disturbing at the same time. Norim saw something out of the corner of the window. He headed into the building where he saw the movement and found nothing.
Or at least nothing in front of him. He turned around and looked up… that was when he wished he hadn’t. There hanging from the ceiling was a town resident, face ripped open, jaw broken, and chunks of meat torn out of the body. She was still, what Norim considered to be alive.
If it reaches out and starts moaning it is alive as far as Norim was concerned, until now that is. Something moved upstairs and Norim went to check it out. As he stood there watching in disgust, a second abomination appeared. This one’s face had the skin pulled down to the chin and nailed into place. It’s stomach was gouged open and intestines were hanging out. The top flap of the open stomach had been pulled up and nailed to the neck.
If the first one hadn’t frightened him enough, this got the job done. The city from Hell as he called it, had to go. So Norim created some big energy explosives and set them up at different areas in the city. When they went off… the ground sucked up the explosions.
Chapter 13
Norim decided that he would deal with these creations of evil later. He just noticed that they were at the base of the mountain. The team moved at top speed to the mountain and began to climb it as fast as they could. They made sure to grab air masks from the ship before they sank it.
They all knew the air gets thin near the summit. The air was already starting to get thin. By the time they reached the cave at the summit, they were tired as crap. They headed in and took a 30 minute nap.
When they woke up it was night-time and they had 4 hours of air left. And, low-and-behold, there was a Crescent Moon. Beneath the opening where the light entered was a full armor ensemble. To test it’s authenticity Norim used the Sword of Ten Thousand Skulls on it. It remained intact and unscathed by the blow dealt to it.
This was the true Crescent Armor and it really was impenetrable. Norim snatched it and left the cave. The team headed down the mountain to the city knowing they’d have to deal with the abominations inhabiting it. This would be especially difficult in the darkness.
But when they got down into the streets, the city was deserted again. That was, of course, because they were swarming in around them. When they were finally visible the Shadow Wolves got even more worried. They seemed to thrive on the light of the Crescent Moon.
Norim used his favorite elemental attacks to fend them off but they wouldn’t come. This place of evil nullified his abilities and left him vulnerable. He couldn’t even draw his sword. He shouted, “We’re out of here!”, turned tail and… found his path blocked.
They were surrounded on all sides with no way out. But then they heard a noise from above. They looked up and saw that Xine had commandeered a military aircraft. He dropped a line for Norim and his friends to climb up.
Not only were the fools lucky that he had flown in just in the knick of time. But he had also gotten us away from that 4 armed thing. They were on their way to the Military HQ. Norim had never been on very good terms with the Supreme General.
So he just concentrated on Celia’s human form. Oh how her human form got the hormones pumping. Even with the Crimson Armor her form was irresistible. And Norim was simply fascinated by every aspect of Celia. Whether it be her long brown hair, or her baby blue eyes, or the way her mouth curved when she smiled. Luckily, they had reached the HQ safe and sound.
The Supreme General sat the team down outside his office because he was taking care of some business. Xine looked at me and said, “What the hell were those things?!” Norim just shrugged and sighed and looked ahead in anticipation. When the SG finally came out Norim was ready to kill someone.
They went in and explained the situation in full detail. About three quarters of the way through the alarm sounded. Norim knew what it was but he had to be sure. The group headed down going past massacre after massacre.
Norim knew what did this but Xine and the SG had no idea. When they reached the main area the creature was shredding the beautiful receptionist who Norim had “accidentally” bumped into limb from limb. The creature was indulging it’s hunger with her flesh. This was sickening for him to watch but he ad to end this foul creature.
Chapter 14
Norim simply moved the sword and the abomination was diced into thousands of pieces. You see it only looked like he had moved the sword when in fact he used his tremendous speed to slice the beast 1500 times, clean the sword, and re-sheathe it. Xine said, “Nice slashing Norim, very fast!”
They watched in terror as the pieces pulled themselves together and healed. When it came at them the SG jumped in the way and shouted, “RUN!” It crushed his ribs and tore him completely in half. They ran like little cowards and they were not happy about it either.
When they reached the hangar they took the only Sky Crystal there. This was one of the fastest air vehicles at the time. They all got in and got away from that place as fast as they could. They were royally screwed because Norim had no intention of returning the sword.
He had heard about this seal which could trap anything no matter how big or how powerful the prey was. Time for yet another quest, DANG IT! If only Norim had never heard of the sword or the armor. He wouldn’t be in this mess that he was in. But he also never would have become stronger or made the friends that he did.
And Vyse didn’t help worth crap. Even after requesting his assistance. He was probably off somewhere claiming to be the supreme leader of all wolves. Though there is no supreme leader, they’re all run by separate Councils, who answer to a Head Council, which is run by the Head Elder.
There was no one that the head elder answered to. But then his life ended and he left his title to Ryn, Norim’s father. But we’re talking about the past right now. Norim and his friends returned to the Shadow Wolf City of Daughn and had a good long rest.
When they woke up the next day they found food waiting by the door. They devoured the food in a matter of minutes and drank the water in seconds. As they headed downstairs all they remembered was blacking out. When they came to again they found themselves in glass cells in another complex made of extremely tough plastic at the bottom of one of the oceans.
Well… this sucks! They were in deep this time… literally! How did this always happen to Norim and no one else? I’m pretty sure if he was asked he would say he hated his life.
Well… he broke them out again and all that good stuff. But where the assailants thought they were safe… ended up becoming their tomb. Norim was really getting sick of this creature following him. It was taking his kills and… NO…NO…IT CRUSHED HIS FAVORITE BANANA!!!
He hated this creature more than Vyse! And that’s bad because he hated Vyse a lot! This creature needed to know defeat! And Norim would be the one to introduce him!
Chapter 15
They were more nervous than any of their other captors. This was getting very old, very fast. The Wolves headed up toward the surface after Norim set the self-destruct, not knowing what to expect. They had absolutely no idea that the beast had pulled a kill-and-run.
They reached the top and found themselves being stared down by a new evil. Only this one was twice as strong as the 4 arm. It was also on fire and smelled of burned human flesh. This beast had broken bones… or at least… what looked like broken bones, all over it in the most awkward areas. It had a horribly deformed face. It’s skin had been burned so badly that it looked like it was made of charcoal. They decided that it was time to run.
When they finally stopped running they found that they had run 2000 times around the same room. This was madness, they were not only freaked out but thy felt unbelievably stupid now as well. They ran out this time and just kept on running until they couldn’t go any farther. Unlike the last time the beast didn’t follow us.
This time when they stopped they were back in Norim’s home village. How interesting his life had become over the past few years. If asked he would swear that the fire beast surpassed the other beast 10 fold, maybe more. This was madness!
They decided that since they were there they would take a few days to rest. So they went to his house and went to sleep. The next day Norim woke up to find Celia in my bed with her arm over my hip. Things got interesting after that and they had fun until they heard a scream and a crash.
They all went outside and saw a Crimson Cloud beginning to engulf Norim’s home village. The screaming was coming from within the cloud. They evacuated the town and ran for their lives. They knew it couldn’t be anything good.
About five hours later they realized that they had slowed to the speed of mortals. They didn’t like this because mere mortals were pathetically slow. They had escaped the cloud but faced the fact that their home village had been obliterated. Not to mention the fact that they were now standing face-to-face with that fir-covered beast.
So they turned sharply to the left and headed for the ocean. As soon as they reached the water’s edge they took one giant leap and landed 100 feet out in the water. The beast followed them right in and his flame didn’t go out. They decided right then and there that they were royally screwed.
They were sick of running, but they had no choice. It was run or be killed… so they chose run. It just kept on following them and this was getting old. The stench of burning flesh was unbearable.
They reached the other side of the water and put up a barrier to prevent it’s pursuit. And they ran. There was nothing else the Shadow Wolves could do. They’d die if they tried to fight it. And dying was not an option worth considering.
They returned to Norim’s home and found corpses everywhere, and a note nailed to Norim’s door. The note read, “Greetings! You are truly a worthy adversary! You have wiped out most of my bases and killed more than enough of my men. I concede defeat but know this you flea ridden filth! I will return and I will have my revenge! Until that day… farewell! P.S. I have found and provided the seal you were questing for and used it to capture the original abomination. Use it wisely and make sure you’re there when I return!”
Norim crumbled the paper and picked up the seal. He looked at the others and showed them the note and seal to see what they thought. They cheered and decided to celebrate this victory. But then Norim saw the fiery abomination bounding towards them at full speed. He stepped to the front of the pack and held the seal out towards the beast.
A light appeared and became so bright everyone had to protect their eyes. When the light dissipated the beast was gone and the seal was about two thirds of a pound heavier. The Shadow men had been defeated and the creatures paths of destruction had been put on an indefinite hiatus. The day was done and Norim decided to spend the remaining hours of daylight fixing the town and showing his one true love the respect and love she had always deserved from him. They two couldn’t have been happier and they knew things would work out. But sooner or later they would have to figure out how to destroy that cloud and finish the Shadow Men for good.
But that’s a subject for another story at another time…
The End
No comments:
Post a Comment