Beautiful artwork made by Randompeephere <3
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"This place, Aramora, what is it?" Naomi paces back and forth, taking in the sight of the forest, and peering through the trees to see a coastline not far from here, not a bad sight either. "Will we see more dragons? How many are here? Is that a common thing?" she proceeds with her questions.
"Drynthar. There's only one."
Mr. Wood is sitting on a fallen log, his face in an old leather notebook and a black pen dancing across the pages, not paying the girl any mind aside from occasionally pitching in to correct her.
"Oh yeah! Drynthar! That sounds a shit ton cooler! I've never heard that word before. What language is that? And is it one I can use a translate app for?"
Mr. Wood sighs and glares at her from over the top of the book. "It's Amorial. Now, are you done?" He frowns with disdain.
Naomi turns and faces him. "Not yet, I still have so many questions! Like, what the hell was that orb thingy? Did we die? Are you a wizard? What's your wizard name?"
He grumbles and returns his attention to the notebook. Now, he's just staring at an earlier page with a far-off gaze. "That 'orb' was an ancient rift. Dev'al Ordon technology. A gateway across lands. No, we didn't die. No, I'm not a wizard. And my name is Malachi Wood."
Naomi watches him curiously and rushes over, peeking at the notebook. "Whatcha lookin' at? Is that some kind of spellbook?"
Malachi instantly shuts the notebook and stuffs it in his coat pocket with the pen. "It's not a spell tome and it's none of your business," he snaps and gets up from the log.
Naomi scoffs. "So that's the one question you won't answer? What is it your personal diary or somethin'? Got gossip about your latest crush in there?" she teases and laughs.
Malachi turns and walks away, putting as much distance between them as possible. "Are you done? You're wasting time on pointless questions that we could be spending on covering ground," he crosses his hands in front of him.
Naomi rolls her eyes. "Ugh... fine. But only if I can ask more questions along the way. Speaking of, where are we going? On an adventure? That'd be fuckin' dope!"
He looks at her sideways. "It would be... what?" he asks.
Naomi chuckles. "You know, dope. It means, like, awesome."
Malachi groans and turns away again. "I'm going to need a translator..." he sighs. "We're heading to New Cresthill, it's the closest standing village from here. That would be a good place to stop for the night, then in the morning we can head for Ecrin, the capital city."
They start walking, but don't make it very far before cackling and footsteps crunching leaves and twigs catches their attention. From the surrounding forest, men and women wearing leather hides and steel plating come sauntering out. Their skins are covered with dirt and their hair is all messy.
One woman wearing mostly steel-plated armor and carrying an iron broadsword walks up to Naomi and Malachi with a smirk and her arms crossed.
"Am'ralan... Look what we have 'ere, two 'clean' folk tryina rough it out in de wild? Stray a bit far from Ecrin, did ya? Well, dat was yer mistake, asinals," she snides and eyes the two.
Naomi scoffs. "I don't know half the shit you just said, but I didn't like it. Do you mind kindly fucking off? We're on a quest!" she exclaims, then stops herself with a gasp. "Or are you a side quest? Oh, that would be great!"
The woman looks at her sideways. "You are a bit dense dere, aren't you? What are you, anyway? You look like no Dev or Sor I've ever seen."
Naomi raises a finger. "Um, I'm a Naomi. And what are you...? Is this a normal greeting here?" she extends her hand out to the woman, but Malachi grabs her wrist and pulls her back.
"Keep back, kid. These people are Latyrs," he says and lets her go, trying to keep an eye on all of them at once.
"The fuck does that mean?" the girl asks.
Malachi sighs. "Bandits." He counts at least eleven, but there could be more hiding amongst the trees and bushes, and if there are, they are likely archers.
The bandit woman cackles. "Now den, enough chatter. I'll say dis only once; hand over all de numis you've got on yah, or we'll pick it from yer corpses," she draws her broadsword.
Malachi frowns. "Sorry to disappoint, but we don't have any numis on us. Afraid you'll have to look elsewhere," he says.
The woman shakes her head. "Yer not foolin' anyone. You two don't look like no Su to me," she narrows her eyes and stands with the blade pointed at them.
Naomi glances around anxiously. "Are we fucked?" she asks quietly.
Malachi sighs. "No, now shut it. Maybe I can reason with them." He stares at the woman. Before he can open his mouth to try bargaining, there is a valiant cry sounding through the trees, and the fast stomping of hooves crashing through, growing louder.
The woman turns to look towards the source, and is instantly toppled over and stabbed through the back of her skull by a silver greatsword.
Naomi studies their savior curiously. Standing atop the woman's body is a well-sculpted brown horse, but as her eyes trail further up, the torso of a woman takes the place where the horse's head should be. She looks to be about nineteen to twenty, with her face a beautiful mixture of feminine and masculine, well-chiseled like the rest of her. Her arms look strong, and on one she has a black shield strapped to her forearm, bearing a golden horse emblem. The woman has long, curly brown hair and light hazel eyes. Her skin is pink and fair, and the silver and gold armor covering her top does not seem to cover much at all, at least as far as combat gear goes.
Atop her horse back is a boy, maybe sixteen or seventeen years old, with shaggy white hair and golden eyes, and beneath his right eye is a deep gash, healed over time leaving a silver crack in his fair skin, and his ears are long and pointed. He's set with dark brown leather armor and a white long-sleeve shirt beneath. He's cloaked with a black hood and cape and fastened with leather bandoliers and pouches, as well as knives. He has a bow, with a notched arrow that he lets fly into the throat of a Latyr that began charging at Naomi.
As the Latyr drops dead, the boy laughs and the horse woman lifts her greatsword, charging at the next Latyr that starts advancing on the two. The woman swings the blade down and strikes down two Latyrs in one go, and the boy huffs, loosing an arrow at another. "Damn, Nesosa! Save some for me!" His voice is smooth and carried with a soft Irish accent.
He carefully balances as he rises to his feet, standing atop her back. He draws another arrow, releasing it at a Latyr who was heading towards them. The arrow flies straight through the Latyr's chest and hits the one behind him, taking them both down.
The centaur woman, Nesosa, rolls her eyes and grins, charging forward as fast as possible which throws the boy off and making him land flat on his ass. A Latyr sprints for Naomi and she tries to duck behind Malachi, but he steps out of the way and pulls her to the side as Nesosa barrels through, trampling the Latyr and flattening him into the ground. Raising a hoof, she slams it down and crushes the Latyr's skull with a satisfied gleam in her eyes.
The boy pouts and gets up. "So much for subtlety..." He shrugs and puts the bow on his back, drawing two knives from his belt and sprinting at three of the Latyrs. He strikes them down in a fast whirlwind of slicing daggers. The Latyrs try to keep up with him, but he's too quick and finishes them off in such a manner of time.
Nesosa laughs as the impales another Latyr. "Och, shut it, Lav! Ye had yer 'subtlety' with th' archers! Ah figured thae dafts could use some mair excitement than that!" Nesosa's voice is best described as forceful, her heavy Scottish accent enunciating the snark in her tone. Blind in her adrenaline, Nesosa turns and starts charging for the next person in sight, Naomi.
The boy reaches out towards her as she gallops towards the girl. "Um, Nesosa! Not that one!"
The centaur woman charges towards Naomi, who stands in both fear and awe of everything happening around her. "RAAAAHHHhhh och, wait! You're th' ones we're saving! What's yer name?" Nesosa stops mere inches away from Naomi's face with a smile and she crosses her arms, leaning down to look at her as though she's inspecting her.
Naomi stares up at her with a wide grin. "Holy shit," she chuckles, still looking the centaur over in awe and Nesosa looks at her sideways.
"That's a pure weird pumpin' name, but a've heard worse. Nice tae mak yer acquaintance, Holy Shite."
The boy laughs as he walks over. "Come on, Nesosa. Don't be so dense. I'm sure the lady has a finer name than that," he smiles and looks at Naomi.
She chuckles. "I'm Naomi. It's nice to meet you? I think?" she says.
Nesosa groans. "Damn. Fur a moment ah thought ah was goin' tae like ye. But ye're boring," she frowns.
Naomi sighs. "Yeah I get that a lot. Now, quick question; Who the hell are you people?" she asks.
The boy chuckles and steps closer. "Us? Oh, we're just your local heroes, valiantly charging into battle to help save some poor helpless souls from all the evil Latyrs of the land. No need to thank us, m'lady. Unless of course, it's with a handful of numis in honor of our kind deed," he says with a wink.
Naomi tilts her head at him and cocks a brow. "So... Are you mercenaries or something?" she asks.
He shrugs with a grin and crosses his arms, looking off stoically. "You could say that we are some... class definition of the term 'mercenary'. We do good by lending a friendly hand wherever we can and—"
The centaur woman, Nesosa, huffs and whacks him on the back of his head, immediately shutting him up and she rolls her eyes. "Give it a rest, Lav. Fur a Cle, ye are terrible at lying," she chastises. "Name's Nesosa Val'Dernak. Ah'm probably th' strongest Kileyan centaur warrior ye've ever seen, sae take mah advice 'n' don't cross me. Otherwise ye'll end up lookin' like flat-skull over there," she says and motions towards the Latyr whose head basically got curb stomped by a big ass horse.
Naomi nods slowly. "Um... You're the only 'Kileyan centaur warrior' I've ever seen, so... I guess you're right?" She jumps as Malachi suddenly appears beside her and grabs her shoulder.
"Are you done wasting time? The Latyrs are dead so we need to get a move on. So say goodbye to your little friends so we can leave already," he grumbles.
Naomi groans and throws her head back. "Come on... I'm new here! These people look cool and they just bodied a group of bandits for us! In video games, the first people you encounter at the start are typically very important to the main quest so it's smart to talk to them!" she whines and motions to the pair as she talks.
The two look at her quizzically. "What in the name of Maze are you talking about? What do you mean you're 'new here'? Are you from Conarita or something?" the elf boy asks.
Naomi starts shaking her head, but Malachi quickly nods with a loud clearing of his throat. "Yes. That is exactly where she's from," he states and his eyes dart to her warningly.
Nesosa looks Naomi over and nods. "Ah see. That explains why she's sae weird," she says.
Malachi sighs. "There. You talked to them. Now let's go."
Naomi shakes her head. "Nope. We haven't gotten our quest yet!" she turns towards the boy. "Are you the quest giver? What do you need us to do?" she asks.
The boy throws a glance at Nesosa and she nods with a small smirk. He returns his gaze to Naomi and clears his throat. "Oh yes, m'lady. My name is Lavern Ciaran Dev'Alrich, or just 'Lavern' for short, and I've got something for you to do, if you're asking," he says with a smile.
Naomi nods eagerly. "Yes! What's our objective?"
"Hand over all the numis you're carrying," Lavern says and holds out his hand.
Naomi tilts her head again. "Wait what?"
Nesosa rolls her eyes. "Ye heard him. We did ye a service by killing those Latyrs. Ye want an objective? Pay up sae ah kin have a pumpin' dram at the tavern," she demands. Naomi bites her lip, uncertain if she should be annoyed or more excited that the first people she met are apparently assholes who make a living off killing other assholes.
Malachi grumbles as he sees the confused look on Naomi's face. " He's a Cle. A thief," he says and turns his focus to Lavern, "I thought you Devs were supposed to be nobility. Shouldn't you be sitting high and mighty in Arkala with the other Devs and Mars?"
Lavern scoffs and shakes his head. "Weren't you the one who said you didn't want to waste time on talking to us? But if you wanna know, then sure, I may be a Dev by blood, but without any sparkly magic crap I ain't no Mar. The path of the Cle is the one I proudly walk," he explains and holds out his hand again. "Now, you were giving me your numis?" he grins.
Naomi shakes her head. "Didn't you hear him earlier? We don't have any 'numis' on us," she crosses her arms and glares at him, still unsure if she's annoyed or intrigued.
Lavern glances to Malachi, then back to her and Nesosa laughs. "Dae ye think we're idiots? That's th' oldest excuse in th' book. We ken ye must hae something o' value tae give us," she looks them both over as if trying to size them up.
Malachi sighs. "We don't have time for this. It's going to be dark soon and we need to get to New Cresthill while we still have sunlight," he grabs Naomi's shoulder and turns her away from the pair, guiding her towards the forest.
Nesosa rushes towards them and blocks their path. "New Cresthill, huh? Maybe we kin overlook this if ye buy me a dram at th' tavern," she says.
Malachi goes to speak, but Naomi beams with a nod. "Yeah! We still don't have 'numis' but maybe you can stick with us until we do! You know, like a follower you can't get rid of unless you pay them to leave," she suggests, coming to the conclusion that she does like them.
Lavern joins them and grins before climbing up on Nesosa's back to reclaim his seat. "Works for me. It'll be nice having someone else in my debt for once," he says.
Malachi shakes his head. "No. We don't have time for this. One annoying kid was too much already, no way I'm putting up with three," he says.
"Too late!" Naomi states and he immediately sees her climb up onto Nesosa's back to sit behind Lavern and she settles with a big smile.
"I can't believe I'm riding a centaur..." she giggles.
Nesosa snickers and glances back at her. "Och trust me, there's plenty more where that came from, love. Maybe ah'll show ye sometime," she snarks and starts walking into the forest slowly with Malachi following, burying his face back in his notebook, staring at that page again.
Naomi scratches the back of her neck. "Um... I'm underage."
Nesosa shrugs. "Maybe one day, then," she says as they keep walking.
Malachi grumbles and starts following them with his head down. "I guess they're staying..."
Along the way, Naomi reaches into her pocket and pulls out the map again, eyeing the small black dot that marks their destination. "So... why's it called New Cresthill? What happened to 'Old' Cresthill?" she asks.
Lavern chuckles. "There wasn't one. They just thought adding 'New' to the name made it sound more important," he grins.
Naomi raises a brow. "Really?" she asks. Malachi sighs.
"That Latyr was right. You are dense." He shakes his head, keeping his attention on his notebook. "The village of Cresthill used to be on the isle of Manatria, but it was destroyed by a Drynthar attack. That was the second town to fall since that winged bastard started plaguing Aramora."
"Has it not always been around?" Naomi asks. Nesosa laughs.
"Drynthar? Bugger nae! It's only popped up in th' lest hundred years or so."
"Where did it come from?" Naomi asks. Lavern sighs.
"That right there is one of the biggest questions of the century. No one knows, exactly. Though there are a lot of theories," the elf says.
Naomi looks at him curiously. "Like what?" she asks.
"Like the Dev'al Ordon," he says, then sees the confusion on her face. "You know, the 'High Order' that rules over all six lands of Aramora? They control everything that happens here, so it wouldn't surprise me if they also brought along the Drynthar," he says. Malachi briefly glances up at him from over the notebook, then returning his divided attention to the page in silence.
Naomi nods slowly. "I see... and what did you mean by Cresthill was the 'second' town to fall to a Drynthar attack? What was the first?" She glances back at Malachi. and he stays silent for a moment, then sighs and hardens his face.
After receiving no response, Nesosa sighs. "Eelry was th' first. Nae far from here, if ah'm nae mistaken. Some elder centaur o' my tribe, th' Kirix Tribe, claim tae remember seein' th' fires all the way from Kilead when that happened."
Naomi looks at her quizzically. "Eelry?" she asks.
Lavern nods. "Yeah... not sure if anyone survived the attack, but who knows?" He shrugs.
Malachi sighs and shuts his notebook. "Stop talking. We're almost there and we don't want to risk the Dev'al Ordon knowing about us being here."
Naomi looks back at him. "Why not?" she asks and the old man grumbles.
"Forget it. You don't need to know. Let's just hurry up and get to the town," he picks up the pace and walks ahead of them with his head down but his shoulders stern.
Lavern stares after him curiously. "What's his deal?" he asks.
Naomi sighs. "I don't fucking know, he's weird."
Nesosa shrugs. "Whatever. Ah just want tae get wasted by th' end o' th' day. Let's hurry this along," she picks up the pace, bringing them to a gallop after Malachi down the road to New Cresthill.
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Notes:
Just want to credit the (wonderful?) Aloe for creating Nesosa Val'Dernak, who I can already tell is going to be the best kind of character; a living brain aneurysm for me.