The journey to L'manburg

}~~~[Chapter 1]~~~{

(pov): George
It was late at night when the attack happened, a loud explosion rocking the city to its core. The elven warriors rushed to defend their home while the others were rushed to the safety of the castle's walls, many being injured and killed as the fight raged behind the civilians. The orcs hadn’t gotten past the city walls yet but they had laid waste to many elven cities beforehand, the warriors having no doubt they could get through this one. The royals evacuated the people through the portal to the city of L’manburg, where some of our human allies resided in the far north. Me and my friend, who is known as Karl Jacobs, were running for the portal just as the last people went through. Before we could reach it the castle debris blocked our way, the portal closing shortly after my father stepped through. We ran to the stables, hopping on our mounts. His was a flaming horse named Sapnap, a large, jet black, horse with bright flames for a mane and tail. Mine was a direwolf named Dream, his coat blonde in color and his piercing green eyes able to make objects levitate. We rode away from the wreckage, the orcs having won the battle. They didn’t notice us as they were busy trying to operate the portal to get to my people. I had broken the portal so they couldn’t get through. Karl and I rode all night, heading in the direction of the far away city my people had sought refuge in. That was yesterday, and now me and Karl have a long journey ahead. My name is George Henry Davidson, and I am an elven prince. My best friend and bodyguard is Karl Jacobs, a royal guard trained to the highest standard of elven warriors. Now I was patching up his shoulder, as it got injured when he pushed me out of the way when a part of the castle fell above us. He sighed, leaning on his horse as we rested in the morning. The demon stallion sniffed him, letting out worried huff at his injuries from the battle and our escape.
“It’s ok Sapnap,” He said as he rubbed the horse's neck, “I’m fine, I’ll heal over time.”
“We’ll have to get going soon, I don't want the orcs to catch us.” I said as I also stood up, scratching Dream’s neck as I scooted his saddle around a bit. Karl nodded, fixing Sapnap’s saddle and jumping onto the horse's back. I looked the horse over, eyeing its features and how small Karl looked while riding him. The horse had jet black fur and his mane, tail, and around his hooves were flames but they could only burn things if he wanted them to do so. His eyes were a storm gray and could make any person, elf, or orc shrink away in fear, except for Karl. That elf could stare at the devil himself and not back down. Karl, being a master of confidence, is very, very, hard to scare. I tried to scare him one day from around a corner and he punched me so hard it broke my nose, which he apologized heavily for. He and Sapnap are a perfect match-up. Me and Dream were the same, both very quiet and extremely smart. He is a direwolf and his fur was blonde with small gold highlights, his eyes were a piercing dark green which glowed softly. He had the ability to levitate objects using his mind, his eyes glowing brightly as a sign of his powers as well as the bright green aura around the object. I snapped out of my analisis when I felt a pull on my arm, looking over to see Dream tugging on my sleeve. I smiled, hoisting myself onto his saddle and grabbing the reins. We set off, riding as quickly as we could through the trees to put some distance between us and the orcs. I watched the tall trees wip by as Dream and Sapnap surged forward, racing each other as they often did. Me and Karl both knew it could relieve the stress off them and would help us get to L'manburg quicker, though Karl didn’t seem happy going so fast. I was worried for my parents, knowing they'd be worried I hadn't made it. I could see Karl was worried about his father, General Steven, who had been in charge of leading our people to safety through the portal and was the one to go last, alongside my father. I turned back towards the front as I heard fire, and it wasn’t the crackle of Sapnap’s mane. Karl and I stopped in front of a large open field of farmland. Ahead of us lay the elven village of Carvahall, and it was burnt down with some of the flames still rolling. I saw the bodies of elven people scattered around the ruins, I almost threw up when I saw how mutilated they were. I looked over to Karl as he slowly rode over, got off, and kneeled beside the body of a pregnant elven woman, realizing it was his sister. He started to cry, head up turned to the sky as he screamed curses to the gods for letting something so horrible happen to their creations. I got off of Dream and ran over, hugging him as he broke down and mourned for his sister. I felt terrible for him, watching as my friend sobbed himself to sleep in my arms. I picked him up and set him onto Sapnap’s saddle, making sure he wouldn’t fall off. I scavenged around a bit, finding some uncooked meat hidden in a barrel, before I hopped onto Dream’s back. The direwolf barked at Sapnap, as if to say ‘follow me’. We rode for another hour, being careful not to go too fast or Karl could fall. Soon we stopped near a cave, I helped Karl down while Dream scouted out the cave for a safe place to sleep. Soon he came back out and led us to a good place to rest and cook some of the food I'd gathered from the village before we left. As I cooked, Karl slowly awoke. He is still leaning against me for comfort. I knew it must’ve been hard on him to see that, it would’ve been hard for me if I saw my sister like that. He rubbed his eyes, the purple iris shining in the fire-light. Dream laid by my side, opposite of Karl, and Sapnap was standing and eating some grass. When the horse noticed Karl was awake he trotted over, sniffing and nudging the brunette softly.
“Sap! Stop!”, he said as he tried to hold down his giggles as well as push the horse's snout away. Sapnap persisted, nuzzling Karl’s face softly. Karl just kept trying to push the stallion away, leaving me laughing at his failed attempts to get the worried horse to leave him be.
“I’m glad Dream isn’t that protective of me,” I said as I watched Sapnap shift forms into a cheetah-sized fox, his tail of flames licked across the rock hungrily. Karl just let Sapnap curl up around him, petting the demon gently.
“Your lucky Dream can’t shapeshift. He'd be with you all the time.”, Karl replied as he ran his hands over Sapnap’s head, the demon purring softly. I nodded, looking at the direwolf that laid by my side. He picked his head up off his paws and licked my face. I giggled, petting him softly behind his large, fluffy ears. I looked at Karl, raising my brow. “Can’t Sapnap use his shapeshifting to grow wings?” I asked, not having known much about demons as Karl did.
“I wish, he’s not old enough to do that yet. Just like you and Dream, me and Sap are around the same age” he stated, the demon curling his tail around Karl’s waist. Sapnap’s furry head lifted, glowing eyes gazing at me before they turned to Karl. He laid his head on Karl’s lap, huffing softly. Karl pet him gently, slowly falling asleep against the demon. I knew he usually didn’t sleep much so I let him rest, putting out the fire and leaning against dream to get some shut-eye myself. He mumbled out a soft ‘Goodnight’ and I mumbled it back before falling asleep.

[Each chapter of the first 4 will be character designs]
1.George
2.Karl
3.Sapnap
4.Dream