Curse

Medron Pryde · Jan 02, 2008, 06:59 AM // 06:59

Lion’s Arch Chronicle
Looking Back
By Historian Durmand

History is replete with the tales of great heroes, great battles, and the cultures they belonged to. It is in fact impossible to understand those cultures without first understanding the heroes that came from them. Saul D’Alessio of Kryta. Master Togo of Cantha. Turai Ossa of Elona. They are all heroes, and how they lived, and more importantly how they died, gives us a glimpse into the culture that bore them. But sometimes, the very rare historian gets the chance to see a hero before they die, to learn about them and their culture from their words, rather than just the dusty surface of some scroll. I recently had the chance to obtain new insight into the late great Kingdom of Ascalon, by meeting their greatest living hero.

Ironically, while the previous heroes I mentioned saved their lands from destruction, the hero I recently had the honor of meeting was unable to save Ascalon. At this time, that once proud realm lies in ruins, Seared by fire and Charr, and after fighting for two years against them, our hero retreated. And of course that is when the person that would have been simply a hero of Ascalon became our hero. Not just a defender of Ascalon, but the person we now know of as the Legendary Guardian of our entire world. Had our hero remained in Ascalon, refusing to retreat, the history of our entire world would be different. It takes a brave man or woman to stand up in the face of defeat and cry back at it in defiance while marching forward, scrabbling victory out of the ashes of defeat, or die trying. It takes a wise one to know when to fall back, and sometimes the wisdom, the knowledge that every battle can not be won, is what gives one the ability to regroup, to reassess, and to come back with another plan, even when all appears lost.

History is full of brave, dead heroes, who saved their patch of land, and have never been forgotten by those they saved. We have a sad deficiency though when it comes to wise, living heroes. I can now say, with great pride, that I have met one of the later.

It started with a simple boat trip to the island now owned by the Battle Corps Legion. Those of you who follow the arenas and those staged matches, may have never heard of them, but those of you that follow the changing of the world around us will recognize that name and its impact on all of us. Other guilds battle each other, for coin, for treasure, and for the favor of the gods, this guild has traveled the world and more, has killed a god, and has elevated a mortal to take that god’s place. Some would call that heresy. Some would call it blasphemy.

Some would say they saved the world.

When I stepped off the boat, into the small village that feeds the island and trades with outsiders, members of the Battle Corps Legion met me. I recognized them all, heroes every one, men and women who had walked through a very real hell and came back out. Heroes who, in any other time, would be remembered for all eternity for the deeds they have done. But they will be forgotten, their names will fade into history, and I find that to be very sad. You see, history remembers only the great leaders, not those who made those leaders great.

History will remember one name from our time, the person they followed, trusted, fought beside no mattered where the path followed. History will remember only the hero who led so many other heroes to save our world, the protector that vanquished so many enemies in our name, the one we have labeled as the Legendary Guardian of all Tyria.

History will remember only Terra Belmond, and looking at all those heroes who met me, who escorted me to meet her, I realized just how much of a shame that was going to be. Each of them has a story, but our descendents will not remember them. Their descendents and their people will, but their fame will be limited. Many of them left their people to fight with her, and then returned home to tell their tales. But it was Terra Belmond who became the face of that force, the face of the Battle Corps Legion that came out of the Prince’s Vanguard, Terra who recruited so many to fight against the threats of our world, Terra that learned to make the hard decisions, and so it is Terra Belmond that will be remembered by the entire world as the greatest hero who has ever lived, and very possibly ever will.

Knowing this, I expected her people to escort me to the audience chamber in their fort, where she would hold court in all her might. It was to my surprise that they took me instead to a small meadow outside the walls, to a hill that overlooked the sea, where she sat on the grass, awaiting my arrival. Heroes strutted around, proclaiming their prowess to all who could see, showing their titles on their sleeves for all to know. They did not sit in the grass, watching the leaves turn and fall from the trees.

What did I know about heroes? I had only researched them before. This was my first time seeing them in real life, and their humility surprised me. The heroes who guided me, slipped away into the fort, or the hills surrounding us, but I could feel them watching me. If I threatened her, they would kill me, no questions asked, no quarter given.

She didn’t stand up to great me. She didn’t demand that I bow or scrape before her. Instead she smiled and waved me over to a rock that had been carved into the form of a bench. Why she didn’t use it I didn’t know at the time. I assumed she was simply being kind to an old man, letting me rest on it. Oh how wrong I was. I came to this island to look back upon the history of the greatest hero of all time, to learn about the culture that raised her. I hope to impart at least a piece of what I came to understand to you, my loyal readers, so that you too may see the human that lives behind the façade of the hero we idealize.

Durmand

Medron Pryde · Jan 03, 2008, 09:49 AM // 09:49

Looking Back
Battle Corps Legion Isle

Historian Durmand looked around, taking in the sea lapping up on the beach below, the green grass spreading out below us to the walls, the trees with leaves beginning to turn orange, the arched gateway leading into the Battle Corps Legion’s fort. This was a beautiful island. It didn’t hold a candle to Lion’s Arch of course, but only a handful of cities in the wake of the Charr invasion and the other recent difficulties could. Still, it had a kind of odd, rustic beauty that even someone with more cultured tastes could find attractive.

He turned his gaze to his reason for being here, taking in the sight of the young lady sitting on the grass, looking out over the sea. She seemed almost painfully young, her skin pale to an extreme he’d rarely seen, even from those who lived in the frozen Shiverpeaks, but she’d seen and done terrible things in her years. She turned a head to meet his gaze and smiled.

“Thanks for coming,” she said.

“Thank you for allowing me to come,” Durmand answered, then placed a small device on the stone bench next to him. “Do you mind if I record this?”

Terra frowned at the unfamiliar use of the word. “Record?”

Durmand chuckled. “This is a device the Asura built. It…stores your likeness, how you move, your speech, everything, so it can later be seen and heard by people who were not here to witness it themselves.”

Terra pursed her lips and nodded. “Like one of those illusion spells that Ash loves. Only more permanent?”

“Yes.” Durmand patted the device. “It’s rather rare you know. I’ve been trying to get one for years. They are immensely useful to someone in my work.” He shrugged. “But they’ve never been available.”

“What happened?”

“I told them I was interviewing you.” Durmand smiled at her confused look and nodded. “Yeah, they said something about you not being too shabby and this arrived in my office later that day.”

Terra shook her head ruefully. “They’ve made a real art form out of the back handed compliment, but without them…” She trailed off and sighed.

Durmand knew what she meant. Without the Asura the world would be a darker place today, despite their superior attitudes and mannerisms. It took a special human to get their attention, a true hero to gain their respect, however grudging.

Terra was just such a hero. “You may…record…this,” she said.

“Excellent.” Durmand passed his hand over the device, and placed his fingers on the controls he’d been taught. The device glowed and hummed, signifying activation, and he nodded towards Terra.

“I am Historian Durmand of Lion’s Arch. Today I’m meeting with Terra Belmond, Legendary Guardian of all Tyria, the greatest hero to walk the lands since the Six Gods left our world.”

Terra shook her head rapidly, stopping him from continuing, and he frowned at her in confusion. “I’m no hero,” she said in an iron tone. She stared at him, her eyes matching her tone for a moment, before she looked away with a sigh. “You want heroes, talk to the Legion. Most of us came from the Prince’s Vanguard you know, before...” She shrugged, shaking her head. “You want heroes, talk to Mhenlo, Cynn, Devona, Aiden. Hell, talk to Eve, may the gods bless her crazy mind,” she said with a laugh, then shook her head and turned back to Durmand. “Talk to Emi, Chiyo, or Jamei. Talk to Koss, Melonni, Dunkoro, or Tahlkora. Ogden. Vekk. Jora.” Her face softened, a smile returning. “Gwen.”

She sighed again. “They are the heroes, not me. They walked with me through green pastures, they walked with me through ruins, through mountains and jungles and desert and fire. They walked through a city the size of a continent, through jade forests, on a sea turned to jade in the middle of a wave, they walked through the stars with me. They walked through a hell with me, and they followed me so far underground we could barely remember what it was like see the sun. They, my friends, my guildmates, everyone who has fought with me though everything…they are the heroes. Me…I’m just a survivor. I’ve seen things, I’ve been places, places that no mortal should ever see. I’ve only returned because of them all. And not all of them have returned. Prince Rurik. Master Togo. Spear Marshal Kormir.” She shook her head. “They are the heroes, the ones willing to die for what they believed.”

Durmand frowned. “But…Kormir is a god…”

“And gave up her humanity to become one,” Terra answered. “Trust me, I saw her in those last moments. In the end, she dedicated her entire life to protect others, and in the end, she sacrificed what was left of it to continue that service. I saw what she gave up, I saw what she suffered. I saw it all.”

Durmand nodded and pursed his lips. “So what did you think of her?”

Terra smiled. “She was dedicated.” She sighed. “Oh, sometimes she couldn’t see when she was wrong, but we all suffer from that. In the end though, we should remember her dedication. Her dedication to her people, and to all people.”

“We could be remembered for worse things,” Durmand said, and looked out at the sea. “So what would you say about Master Togo?”

Terra smiled. “What love hath man, but that he give his life for a brother?”

Durmand frowned again, trying to trace the odd phrase.

Terra waved her hand over the thought. “Just some words I read from a story, but they fit. He was devoted to his country, his people, his family, his friends. I’m happy to be able to say I was one of them, in the end. He lived, and he died, following that devotion. What more is there to say?”

Durmand filed her words away, wondering what they hid, and went on. “And what do you think of Prince Rurik?”

Terra turned away from his question and looked out to the sea for several seconds. “He was the last, best leader of Ascalon,” she finally whispered. “He was crazy for his home, his people, willing to do anything for them. Following him in battle was like trying to catch a Strider on a sugar high.” She laughed, then shook her head. “He was the last person I ever served, you know. The last person worthy of my service.” She turned back to Durmand with a frank stare and he knew she meant every word of it.

“So what about King Adelbern?”

Terra shook her head, nearly spitting on the ground. “Adelbern is a fool, wasting his time and the lives of our people in squalor and ruins. Prince Rurik was right to call for the exodus, and Adelbern banished him for that. He said he was no longer his son. I’ll never forgive him for that. I’ll never forgive him for what he’s done to our people. Our only hope is to get away from those ruins that…infect us with despair.”

She turned and waved her hand towards the village and the dock. “That’s why I’m here now, I guess. I’m building a piece of the past, a place I can wake up in every morning and see…what I did when I grew up. I built this for all of us, for Ascalonians to have a new home, however small it is. Here, people can live and breath in beauty.” She waved a hand at the trees. “You came on a good day.” She paused again, taking a sad look around. “It was like this, you know. An early autumn day, the leaves beginning to turn, just like this. The last day of the Kingdom of Ascalon. There was no fanfare that day, no tolling of alarms. I still remember the warm morning breeze. We carried on with our daily lives, nothing spectacular, unaware that in a short while…everything we had ever known would come to an end.”

The words tagged a memory in Durmand’s mind and he frowned, trying to dredge it out. Terra chuckled at him and nodded.

“Yes, that comes from a story too. Not verbatim of course, but…it fits. We were planning a counterattack, you know. Prince Rurik was. But as in so many things, what should have been our salvation came ‘merely too late’.” She waved her hand over the island one more time. “So now we are here, so very far away from home, trying to build a new one where we can be safe.”

“Is there any place truly safe?” Durmand asked.

Terra smiled back and pointed behind her, at the walls and battlements towering over the land, the trees, the very hills. They could be seen for miles around, a fact Durmand could attest to from his boat ride. They were impressive indeed, and looking at them again he thought he could understand just a little what the Great Northern Wall must have looked like…before. “That’s why we have the fort,” Terra said.

Medron Pryde · Jan 08, 2008, 09:45 AM // 09:45

Looking Back
Ascalon

Terra sucked air into her lungs, trying to keep her tired legs pumping. Her vision blurred from the effort, but somehow she kept Prince Rurik in sight and just kept following him as best she could. She didn’t dare fall behind.

Grunts, roars, and the sound of pounding feet from behind encouraged her on that point. Vatlaaw Doomtooth lay behind them with a Fiery Dragon Sword-sized scorch mark in his chest, courtesy of Prince Rurik, and now the Charr wanted revenge. Terra really didn’t want to be on that menu, so she followed the Prince and the friends that joined Ascalon’s Vanguard with her, barely aware of the approaching Wall.

“Come on!” the Prince shouted. “We dare not let them catch us out here!”

Terra didn’t respond, barely able to keep enough air in her lungs to keep moving. Her legs ached. Her lungs threatened to seize up. Her heart seemed ready to explode. That would be a really messy way to go. She kept moving, placing one foot in front of the other, and just concentrated on not falling as the world narrowed to the tiny piece of ground before her. The thundering grew louder, accompanied by her blood pumping through her ears like a drum, until it was all she could hear.

Then a thunderous clang cut off the sound and Terra felt herself falling to the ground. She couldn’t go any further. Couldn’t even return to her feet. Couldn’t even remember what she’d been running from, but it couldn’t have been worse than how she felt now.

She felt a hand touch her arm, and strength began to return to her limbs. Her mind came out of its cloud and the exhaustion that filled her began to fade away. Memory returned, the Charr, and she jerked, trying to return to her feet. The hands held her down though, and a soothing sound filled her, making her feel at peace. And then she was whole again.

Her eyes unclouded and she looked up at the monk wearing the uniform of Ascalon’s Vanguard and smiled. Her gaze flashed past the woman’s smile to see a heavy gate and she recognized the outer chamber of the Great Northern Wall, final defense of Ascalon against the Charr, the greatest, tallest, thickest, and longest structure ever built by man. Around her, she saw friends with monks tending them, beginning to look around with fresh eyes of their own. A monk even tended to Prince Rurik, and she could see the signs pain and fatigue in him as well. He met her gaze and nodded, before pulling in a deep breath.

“We have done well today!” he managed to shout. “Now we must warn-”

A thunderous explosion interrupted him, ripping the gate off its hinges, and dozens of eight-foot tall felinoid Charr began to pour through into the Wall. The Vanguard froze, even Terra to her shame, until the Prince raised his sword.

“Ascalons! To me!” he bellowed, and charged into the onrushing horde. A barrage of arrows answered his call from the battlements above, hitting the Charr. Fire and ice and wind whipped through them, and Terra watched as Med, Tifa, Darril and other soldiers of the Vanguard charged into battle, swords drawn. The Charr met them, throwing some aside, but even surprised, the Prince and his Vanguard did not give ground easily.

“Brace yourself!” the Prince shouted and met their charge, his sword cutting through one after another, and his Vanguard held. Terra rose to her feet, ready for battle again, and turned to look at Rinoa, Ash, Rydia, Aer, Fran, and Rosa. They nodded, and joined the battle. Terra looked at a group of Charr and rubbed one of her rings. The ring glowed, sending its power coursing through her so quickly it lifted her off the very ground. Then clouds formed above the Charr and began to spit flame down on them, seeking out her enemies and setting their fur on fire.

Grunts of pain and fleeing Charr became music to her ears and she looked for other targets. There one prepared to crush a fallen warrior. She rubbed another ring and felt Balthazar’s might slash through her into the monster. It fell back, blown off its feet. Before it could stand up, another soldier stabbed it. She scanned for targets, finding another and sending fire its way as well. Again and again, she struck out, burning one Charr after another, until her rings stopped responding, depleted.

“Ah, hell.”

She looked to either side, seeing all but Fran in the same situation, and pulled out her Rinblade. The other four echoed her action and nodded their readiness. She scanned over the battle, taking in the arrows and magical projectiles flying into the Charr from the battlements above. She saw where the Charr had Rurik and the other soldiers surrounded, saw the Charr’s exposed backsides, and smiled.

“Charge!” she shouted and they ran into the fight. She reached low and sliced through the calf of one Charr. It fell, helpless, it’s tendon rolling up in a ball in its upper leg. Another Charr turned to deal with her and she pulled her blade up, getting underneath its armor and stabbing up into its armpit. The Charr’s arm fell, limp, and she darted underneath its howls of pain.

Terra slipped under the swing of another blade and brought her flame artifact up to block another. It shattered under the assault, but she rolled away from the blade and slipped between legs in Vanguard armor. The ranks of soldiers closed before her and she saw one of the Charr fall, but more swarmed around to take up the positions of their fallen. The Vanguard was surrounded again.

“Stand your ground!” Prince Rurik shouted and she returned to her feet to see him bringing the sword down on another Charr. She looked over to see her friends inside the line of soldiers as well and smiled. They’d cut through the Charr, but Ash stood, doubled over in pain. A quick check showed no damage, and then Terra saw the body of a Stalker through the darting swords and feet and winced. Ash would be out of the fight for a while, recovering from that backlash.

“You picked a grand time to get yourself surrounded!” Tifa said between sword swings.

Terra pursed her lips and tested her rings. They had power again. She exchanged glances with the others and they smiled back. “Actually, yeah, I think we did,” Terra said and stood up proud, scanning the Charr that had them surrounded. There weren’t many of them left, but the Vanguard line was faltering, and if it failed the Charr would rush in and slaughter the archers and mages. They weren’t going to get that chance though.

“We’ve got one shot at this,” she said to Rosa, Aer, and Rinoa.

“We know,” they answered in unison, and fingered their rings. They were ready.

“Assume positions,” she ordered and they surrounded Ash, looking out at the soldiers fighting the Charr surrounding them all. “Balthazar!” Terra shouted and activated her ring. They echoed her shout and she felt Balthazar’s power rip through her. She felt his power move through her friends too, and for a moment they were as one, a brief shining light surrounded by evil.

Then Balthazar’s light shot out through the Vanguard soldiers and tore through the Charr assaulting them. The Charr grunted and screamed in torment, then broke and ran. Some fell to swords in their backs, others fell to arrows or magic. A few escaped, but the exhausted Vanguard did not follow.

Even Rurik stumbled forward before catching his balance. “That’s right!” he shouted at the retreating survivors, his sword tip resting on the ground. “Run! Run before the might of Ascalon you beasts! FEAR US!” Then he turned back to his Vanguard and let out a long breath. “Good job men. You have made me proud to be of Ascalon this day.”

The Vanguard cheered, boisterous in victory. Within seconds though the cheering tapered off as clouds from the north began to blot out the sun.

Terra saw Rurik look up and scowl. “What in Grenth’s name is this?”

“Trust me,” another mage said. Terra recognized her as one of Grenth’s followers. “Grenth has nothing to do with this. This is…something else.”

Rurik exchanged a long look with the mage, then looked back up at the coming clouds. The air ceased to move, even though the clouds rushed over above them, like the calm before the storm. Terra could feel whatever it was building, and even her rings began to pulse with the power of whatever had begun to rise. Something was coming. Something she’d never seen or felt before, and it scared her to her bones.

“Behind the Wall!” Rurik shouted, breaking through her paralysis. “Now!”

She shook her head and turned to follow the Vanguard towards the inner gates. They filed through, orderly but quickly, until she could see the light of the southern sky beyond. Then an explosion rocked the world around her, followed by another, and another, and another, until the very Wall around her crumbled and she knew no more.

Koross · Jan 09, 2008, 06:08 AM // 06:08

Wow this is cool. I like the way you write. Keep it up!

Unreal Cyn · Jan 10, 2008, 05:40 AM // 05:40

I agree with Koross, this is a good piece of writing. I hope to see some more!