Songs Of War Oneshots & Short Stories

(#1) Ria & Hubris - The Two Of Us

HELLOOO it's been a while, I'll admit, but I have finished writing this oneshot. I still have a Lucan x Niika request I need to to finish up, so I'll try to do that soon 😅
Hope you enjoy this oneshot, it is nearly 3000 words, the longest one so far :D
Les go 👉

Requested by: no one :')

"Ria, run!" Osivian screamed at his daughter, who was attempting to activate her Mobilium Song to help him.
He clutched an iron sword, which he had rarely used. Ria gave up on activating her Song, and kicked an attacking Voltaris into the flames behind him, and grabbed his sword as he burned to his death. She threw it at another approaching Voltaris, who was dead before he touched the ground.
"Go!" she heard him yell again.
"No! I'm not leaving without you!"
Osivian stabbed a Voltaris with his sword, pulled it out and rushed to his daughter.
"You have to. We won't be able to escape here together, but I can buy you some time." he rasped, cupping Ria's scorched cheek in his hand. "Thalleous and Senn should be on their way back, keep an eye out for them."
"But you can come with me..."
"I can't. I'm sorry, Ria. I know you've never really been far out of Sendaria, but you have to get as far out as you can now."
"But-"
"No buts." Osivian spun around to see another approaching assailant. "Go. Now! I'm sorry Ria, for all those times I was too harsh on you and Senn. Perhaps we'll meet again in another life."
With that, Osivian turned on heel and rushed towards the attacker, Ria still protesting through the blur of tears.
She wiped her face on the back of her hand, smearing her salty tears across her open wounds and causing her to wince from the stinging. When she looked back up, she saw something that broke her. Her father, who had been comforting her just seconds ago, was lying on the ground, an iron sword protruding from his chest. She collapsed to the ground, gasping for air through the thick smoke.
The Voltaris looked up at her and grabbed his sword. His markings were drilled permanently into her brain as she vowed to avenge Osivian. She spotted the assailant heading for her and scrambled to her feet. After all, she couldn't avenge her father and brothers if she was dead.
Ria ran half-blindly away from her father's fallen body. That was a sight she'd never be able to forget. She peered around for her spear, the only thing left she had of Senn. She couldn't bear to think about what would happen to him when he returned to Sendaria. At least he had Thalleous with him, he'd be alright. Hopefully.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw it lying on the scorched ground a few meters away. She lunged towards it, only for an arrow to fly past and graze her side. She cried out in pain and clasped the spear with bloody and sweaty hands.
Then she ran. Stumbling through the dirt and flames. The pain was overwhelming, but there was no other choice. Past the pond, the sugarcanes, the caves. Or, what was left of them anyway.
Get out, get out, get out. Run, and don't stop until you find help.
She pushed through the undergrowth, not daring to look back. She ran for what felt like forever until the smokey smell of her home burning was long behind her. She slowed down, panting through her fresh blood, sweat and tears. Her lungs were on fire, her legs were numb and she felt like she could collapse for a thousand years. But she couldn't stop yet.
Just five minutes. That's all the rest you get and then you run.
She slumped onto a log at the side of the wild path, throwing her spear down in exhaustion. She hoped the Voltaris pursuing her would have given up her trail by now. That hope was crushed when she heard the bushes rustle. Fully alert, she sprung up and grasped her spear, cringing at the sudden movement of her aching body.
She pointed the spearhead at the bushes the noise had come from.
"C-come out, " Ria announced. "I'll warn you, I-I'm armed!" No reply.
"Show yourself!"
A small shuffle replied to her demand. She was about to charge into the greenery when a spooked horse lept out towards her. She dived out of the way to avoid being trampled by the creature, banging her head against the log. The horse reared up onto its hind legs, and Ria clambered to her feet.
"Hey, hey! It's alright," she soothed it, despite not feeling like it was alright at all. "Shhh..."
The horse calmed down eventually, after the Ardoni girl stroked it gently. She threw her arms around it, breathing its scent in. It reeked of smoke. It had probably escaped from the fires back in the village.
She mounted the horse after giving it an apple off a nearby tree, making sure not to startle it again. The last thing she needed was her only companion running off into the wilderness, leaving her to fend for herself again.
She signalled the horse to go, and she clung to its mane, riding bareback towards the plains. At least she'd be able to spot any opponents out in the open, despite the fact she'd be susceptible to any attacks from them.
They reached the plains and rode nonstop westward. It was nearing dusk as they came across the grasslands, but they couldn't rest, not when death could come at any second. They carried on throughout the night, reaching the nearest village by daybreak. Ria tumbled off her steed, letting it run off to wherever it would run to. She slumped to the luscious grass, breathing in the familiar scent. She grabbed her weapon, which felt strangely out of place in the tranquil province, and used it as a walking stick to support her weight.
Her legs were stiff from riding all night, and she could have sunk to the ground there and then due to her weariness.
Don't stop. Help is right here...
She pushed on. She dragged her feet tiredly, pushing the end of the spear unnecessarily hard into the earth.
Can't stop now... keep moving...
Her vision clouded, and her breaths were shallower each time she shuffled forward. Through her blurred vision, she could make out the moving patterns of golden-hued Ardoni. Nestoris...
Now motivated, she hurried on as quickly as she could. The Nestoris were generally kind-hearted after all, perhaps they could help her out. Despite her efforts, the pain was too much for her to endure. She fell to the dirt, clutching her wounds and calling out for help. One of the training Ardoni spun around at her calls and darted over to her.
"Hey! Come help this girl!" he called to his training partner. "She needs medical attention!"
A slightly older Nestoris ran to help.
"My God! Miss, can you hear me?" he asked urgently.
"Sendaria attacked... send help..." Ria whsipered hoarsely.
"Help me lift her to my cave; we can see what supplies I have in storage," the first younger Ardoni said. He moved back to let his comrade lift up the Sendaris girl. As he did, he spotted a bloody iron spear slip from her hands and moved to pick it up. The younger one led the way to his cave, where the injured Ardoni was laid down onto a blanket on the floor. He rushed to his chests and began rummaging through them for bandages, cloths, water and healing herbs.
He glanced up and grabbed a rag off the side of a wooden chair, then plunged it into a bowl of water. He kneeled down beside the barely conscious girl.
"This might sting a little, OK?"
He carefully pressed the rag against the largest of her injuries, a wide gash across her torso. She twitched as he moved the rag down the cut, cleaning the dried blood from around it.
Soon enough, the rest of her wounds were cleaned up, and she had long passed out. Her markings were still shining and no longer flickering as they were before. Hopefully, now that the wounds were cleaned up, the chance of infection was right down. Nevertheless, the younger Ardoni continued to apply medicinal herbs and bandages to the major injuries. His training partner had left when he saw everything was under control, and his help was not necessary. Once the girl was bandaged up, the Nestoris grabbed the chair and sat watching over her for a while.
Please heal up quickly...
***
When Ria woke up, she felt the cloths around her body clinging to her leathery skin.
How did I get here?
She sat up, careful not to reopen any wounds that had sealed up in however long she had been out for.
She looked around in panic for her spear, the only thing left of home she had anymore. She saw it propped up against one of the cave walls near a table. A note held down with a small water-worn pebble was on the table, a hand-scribbled message written on it.
Ria picked it up and frowned. This must be from whoever had helped her out when she arrived in Nestoria.
Who was it that left it?
The question wasn't on her mind for long. What she wanted to know was what she had missed while she was out. She folded it up and headed out to find the place she had been told to meet the messenger, "the hill overlooking the Song shrine". The shrine was pretty easy to find, seeing as it was poised on a floating isle several metres above the ground. Ria gazed up at the hill, hoping to catch a glimpse of her saviour, but to no avail. Instead, she began climbing the hillside. It was fortunate for her that it wasn't particularly steep, or it might have inflicted more damage than good on her. As she reached the top, she spotted someone sitting on the grass gazing out over the rolling fields.
A young male Nestoris turned around and smiled in relief down at her. He stood up and ran down the hill to greet her; as he came to a stop in front of her, he nodded in acknowledgement and offered her a handshake.
Instead, Ria batted it away and stretched her arms around his neck in a hug. He stumbled back a bit, surprised by her gesture.
"Thank you," she whispered, letting a few tears run down her face. He hesitated a moment before returning her hug.
"Uh... you're welcome,"
Ria pulled herself together and wiped her eyes on the back of her arm.
"Sorry, I should probably have introduced myself first," she apologised.
"No, no. It's alright," the Nestoris shrugged. "The name's Hubris. Pleased to meet you. You are?"
"Ria. Ria Sendaris."
"Well, it's good to see you back on your feet, Ria. I wouldn't have forgiven myself if you'd died because my treatments didn't work. Although you do owe me some herbs now..."
They both chuckled at his last sarcastic remark.
"How long was I out for?"
"A solid four days,"
"Four?! What have I missed?"
Hubris hesitated. "Come with me. Let me show you something,"
He grabbed her wrist gently and pulled her up to the top of the grassy slope. Ria let a small gasp out at the view. All around her, the mountains were reaching high into the clouds, the pine trees were gathered in huge forests, and mountain birds soared on the ever refreshing breeze. Down below the hilltop, the Nestoris Ardoni were sparring, forging, farming, playing, carving and chatting to name a few activities.
Hubris sat down and motioned for Ria to do the same. They gazed over the view for a few moments, before Ria spoke up.
"So, what happened in the last few days?"
"When you first arrived here, you said Sendaria was attacked. While I was helping you recover, we sent some scouts across. From what I heard, there was no survivors from the ambush,"
Ria's face fell. No survivors? Were they really that brutal? Hubris continued on.
"So either anyone lucky enough to get away did exactly that, or you're the sole survivor. They managed to identify a few of the casualties; the champion Thalleous Sendaris was amongst them,"
"No!" Ria blurted, heartbroken. If Thalleous had been found as a victim, he must have returned with Senn; and considering how powerful Thalleous was, the chances of Senn or any of her brothers surviving were awfully slim. She came to the conclusion that she was the only one of her family that survived the attack.
"Unfortunately, yes. I also heard that Ardoni with the same markings as yours were found too, and I'm very sorry for your loss,"
She felt completely lost. How could she possibly lose everything in just a matter of days? A few tears rolled silently down her cheeks again. Ria sniffed.
"If you ever felt lonely, would you come up here?"
Hubris looked at her quizzically.
"I do do that pretty often actually, I can look down and see all my clanmates from up here, you couldn't possibly feel alone,"
"You're alone here?"
"Yeah. I suppose that makes the two of us. I don't really know what happened to my family, but I presume it happened when I was young and couldn't remember these things," he shrugged. "I grew up here without any parents or siblings, but my training partner brought me up, so I guess he's the closest thing to family I have,"
Ria nodded slowly.
"Right..."
"Something needs to be done about these Voltaris attacks, there was one in each of the Ardoni provinces," Hubris sighed.
"Really?!"
"Unfortunately so,"
Ria thought for a second. What if they started a group of fighters? A resistance group. People eager to end the Voltaris' attacks and the threat they posed. She brought this idea up to Hubris, who agreed with the thought.
"A resistance group, huh?" he mused, peering at the Sendaris. "Nice thought, I like it! We can start here and see if anyone wants to join us, yeah?"
Ria smiled gratefully at him, glad he liked her suggestion.
"Thanks, Hubris,"
"Hey, I know some people who might like to join. You know of the Jaggathans?"
"Can't say I do,"
"Well, you'll see. His name is Grek, he's a keen warrior. I'm sure he would be a great addition. Jags are huge creatures, might I warn you. But he's the friendliest being you could imagine," Hubris reassured Ria.
"Well, that's wonderful!" she beamed back, then frowned. "What will we call ourselves? We need to have some sort of recognisable name, right?"
"True, true," Hubris thought for a few moments. "What about 'The Knights'?"
"Isn't that a bit vague?"
"The Knights of Ardonia, " he amended.
Ria chuckled at his thinking, fortunately Hubris didn't take it close to his heart.
"I like it. We can improve when we have more members, yeah?"
Hubris laughed, "Sure, I agree that it's a little cheesy, but it'll do the job for the time being,"

The next couple of weeks were spent travelling over Ardonia, gathering members for the resistance group. Over this time, the two of them had managed to recruit several members, including a Magnorite, a Felina, Hubris' friend - Grek, and a strange creature with a scythe that seemingly only communicated in growls and grunts. They had set up their base in the mountain range near the floating city of Ataraxia, where they had been searching for new recruits too many times to count.
The new hideout was hidden away amongst the caves, and made great shelter for the few.
Their maps and charts were spread over the walls, and the campfire kept the cave pleasantly warm, enough to stop the cold of the hole in the top of the cave.
Ria and Hubris finished putting up a new map, and stood back together to admire it. They couldn't lie, things could be far better, but they were getting through it. There was a war coming, and they were prepared for it. But they could never be prepared for the permanent scars it would leave on both their hearts and their lives.

Ria and Senn stood staring down at the stone lit with gold patterns. Senn, being the new Voltaris Master, had other things to do, but there would always be time to honour his allies, his friends. Grek had visited the cemetery earlier, the saddest Ria or Senn had ever seen him before. They couldn't blame him. One of his oldest friends was gone and he hadn't even got to say goodbye. Pain, silence, sadness.
Through her tears, Ria looked away from Hubris' gravestone and into her hands.
She started to wonder if he knew she would keep it. Something to remember him by, of their first meeting. A message, even after he was gone. A reminder that he'd always be there, waiting. On that hill. She still wasn't quite sure why she had kept it. Perhaps it was because it was the first sign of kindness she'd received after she'd lost everything. The first light after seemingly eternal darkness; the start of a new day, a new opportunity to start over again.
The crumpled and discoloured piece of paper from so many months ago, the writing blotchy and bled from weathering:

If I'm not around when you wake up, just come to the hill overlooking the Song shrine, I'm normally hanging around there. I'll be waiting :)
- H