Two Ardoni sparred with wooden swords, a young Sendaris, barely strong enough to wield it, and an old Kaltaris, upon a lush green hill, so long ago that the hill is most definitely not lush today. The Kaltaris spun around and kicked the Sendaris, knocking him down. He helped the young Sendaris to his feet and said, "Always be kind to your enemy, Tempest. They may become your greatest ally some day."
"Yes, Master Firenis," Tempest said, committing it to his memory and engraving it in the serene metal walls of his mind - along with hundreds and hundreds of other lessons. But this one... this one would prove to be the one that saved many, many lives.
***
Airiox swirled his sword in a loop, the enchantment gleaming and humming in the cool night air. The only other sound, the breathing of the enormous monster retreating into its cave beneath the towering form of Mt. Velgrin, became louder than before, and suddenly it leaped at him. He dove to his left and somersaulted away, but retreated quickly at the surprising sight of the monster right in front of him. He slashed up and created a huge scar in the monster's side, but the enormous animal didn't even seem to notice.
He tried another fake and it seemed to work this time. He climbed up its leg quickly and nimbly got on its back, plunging downwards. The monster roared and threw Airiox off its back, but the sword remained in it. The monster turned around and lumbered towards him, outraged.
As it cornered him against a pine tree, a quick whooshing noise came from their left and suddenly an arrow poked into the monster's side, and it yelped in pain, looking off. Airiox took the opportunity and used his Mobilileap Song to shoot straight up and come down on the monster with a smash, activating his Aggressium Song and obliterating the monster into a few piles of ash.
Airiox turned around to thank his savior when he saw seven Ardoni - Ardoni with red markings - standing there, all armed with iron weapons, and one with a bow with string still vibrating. The one in the middle was armed with a diamond axe however, and started advancing towards Airiox.
"Well, look at what we found," he said in a low and distorted voice. "Who might you be?"
Airiox stood frozen with disbelief. The Voltaris? Thalleous hadn't been lying after all! They were returning at last. "You-you--" he struggled to talk. "You're Voltaris," it finally came out in a whisper.
"Yes, you finally figured it out! We will return from the shadows, and the--" the lead Voltaris was stopped in his sentence as another Voltaris suddenly fell dead onto the grass, markings faded and Songs materializing. The other six turned around confused, and there stood a second Sendaris, weapon still tingling with Aggressium energy. His dark blue markings, on the verge of purple, glowed with an almost godly light. He held a great diamond broadsword, similar to that of Airiox's, but bigger and more enchanted. He also had a diamond staff strapped to his back. He pulled his sword back after the Aggressium Song died down a bit. One Voltaris went to see the one on the ground, and another shielded them from the new Sendaris that had shown up.
"Voltaris. You are returning after all." he spoke in a steady voice. "You will pay for what you have done. All four Ardoni clans attacked and slain, innocent citizens, just for the sake of the Prime Songs."
"They were ours to begin with," said the lead Voltaris. "And you lying thieves stole them. I am Hallux Voltaris, lieutenant of Tygren and advisor of Ingressus himself. And you must be..."
The Sendaris spoke again. "My name is Tempest Sendaris, current Ardoni champion after the death of Thalleous. Thalleous Sendaris, whom your master killed. For that, you shall pay the same fee as he paid him." Tempest raised his sword and activated his Aggroshock Song. The Voltaris dove to the side. It was only now that Tempest put any energy into thinking about Airiox, who he had noticed when he had first arrived, but hadn't paid much attention to. He ran towards Airiox, who had become visibly confused. The Voltaris regrouped angrily, but Tempest and Airiox were nowhere to be seen, disappeared into the thick and sloping forests surrounding the hills at the base of Mount Velgrin.
"Where's Val?" asked the younger Ardoni.
"Who's Val?" asked Tempest, still focusing on running through the forest. He looked back while Airiox ran under the shelter of his arm.
"I thought she would've sent you to help me. She doesn't think I can do anything on my own yet."
Tempest stopped running. "Alright, I don't know who you are, or who Val is, but the Voltaris are returning, okay? We need to get you back to your home. What's your name and where do you live?"
"I'm Airiox Sendaris," he said. "Val is my mentor. I want to be the Ardoni champion one day, so I train with her. I live in Ataraxia."
"Ataraxia?"
"Yes, Ataraxia," Airiox replied.
"That's so far away from here! And I can't lose the Voltaris; as champion, I'm on a mission to track them!" Tempest exclaimed. He stopped and thought for a while. Airiox looked back, paranoid that the Voltaris had followed them, but Tempest then made his decision. "Well, I guess you're stuck with me for a while."
Airiox was surprised by this. "I'm hunting Voltaris with you? AWESOME! It's just like being champion!"
Tempest was exasperated at Airiox's childishness, even though Tempest himself was barely old enough to be Ardoni champion. "Look, from now on, you have to do everything I say, got it?"
Airiox liked the sound of that less, but went with it. "Alright."
They continued running over the forested hills, but at a slower pace. The Voltaris hadn't followed, luckily. Or so they thought.
In reality, as they headed westbound towards the capital of Ardonia, Crown Peak, the Voltaris were tracking them stealthily (and also ironically since Tempest should've been tracking them) above the treetops, taking special care to not make a sound.
Tempest cracked a few twigs as they broke out into a clearing. Airiox was tired and was glad to have a rest.
"So, uh, what was your name again?" Airiox asked. He had forgotten it after all the havoc with the Voltaris.
"Ah." Tempest looked relaxed only now, but he kept glancing around the pine forest. "I'm Tempest. Tempest Sendaris. Ardoni champion, slayer of - you know the drill." he refocused on the pork he was roasting.
"You're the Ardoni champion? I thought that was another guy from our clan. What was his - oh yeah! Thalleous," said Airiox, the name popping into his head.
"You haven't heard?" asked Tempest, looking at Airiox directly for the first time. Tempest was, in truth, not really listening very well to Airiox, as he figured he had better things to worry about.
"Uh, heard about what?"
"Thalleous died three months ago."
Airiox was a bit shocked, because he had known Thalleous was an excellent fighter and amazing strategist and Songwielder. He hadn't known him personally, but he wondered how anyone could have killed such a legendary hunter.
"Thalleous was... slain by the Voltaris. The Voltaris' old second-in-command during the Great War, and the former Voltaris leader - Tygren."
"Former?" asked Airiox.
"Yes. Former. I wouldn't expect you to know this, but... a great threat has returned. One that was the cause of many perils, many deaths. And another great threat may soon follow. It is my job to protect the clans from this."
"What's the threat?" asked Airiox, pestering.
Tempest sighed. "He is known to most as the Deathsinger."
Airiox recoiled in shock. "The De- he returned?!"
"Yes, Ingressus Voltaris has returned. However, he is not yet ready to strike. He doesn't have the confirmation of the Enderknights' dissipation, he doesn't have the Nether on his side, and most importantly - he doesn't have the Prime Songs. Unfortunately, no one except a few Ardoni were trusted with the locations to the Primes - even I don't know where they are. I have suspicions where he hid some - for example, it is likely he hid one in the Vault, which is just about northwest of here."
"That doesn't seem like he was a great hider, then," said Airiox, smirking.
Tempest gave him a quick glare. "We'll soon be meeting someone - not here, but in Crown Peak."
"Who?" asked Airiox, beginning to become annoyed. He seemed to be needing to prompt Tempest to give him all the answers.
"My old master, Firenis Kaltaris. It's a wonder how he is still alive, but he's helping me. After we get this business over with, and we track the Voltaris to their new base, we're going immediately back to Ataraxia to get you off my case."
Airiox felt offended but didn't show it, and resumed roasting his steak. Both of their things finished at the same time and they ate to the soundtrack of wolves howling in the dense taiga around them. The wolves began to quiet around midnight, and Airiox had gone to sleep, but Tempest was still wide awake, thinking about his new duties as champion.
It was then that he heard a snapping of a twig in the taiga on the edge of the clearing. His thoughts jumped immediately to VOLTARIS, and he grabbed his sword. He waited tensely for almost twenty minutes, but nothing emerged. He placed his sword down, still on guard, but went back to thinking.
Finally, after two hours, he couldn't stand it anymore and started drifting off... The sound of twigs then increased, and Tempest shot awake to the sight of six Voltaris surrounding the clearing.
A/N hi does this work? Oh yay it does. Alright. Um well, idk really how these Author note things work, but I saw a few other peeps use them on fanfics so here goes. Welp, hope you enjoyed the first chapter! Remember this was written by myself, Airiox, and my friend Tempest Sendaris. We agreed to post it on my account for the time being. We've finished writing all of it and we'll release it on here in the coming days. Hope you like it!