Curse

Naqser · Mar 31, 2006, 10:22 AM // 10:22

A story about my character's past, feel free to comment, or actually do comment plz and say what you think is good and what's bad so I can improve my writing

Our story begins at a distant time, not known by anyone

The doors to the Moist Pig Tavern burst open, everyone looked around to see what was happening, Ardo the farmer was standing there, known to the whole village as the luckiest farmer around, not only had he gotten the best soil for his fields, it was in those fields he had found a beautiful elementalist at the mercy of a giant stone elemental. She had been badly wounded and couldn't do anything against the giant heap of stones moving closer to her. Ardo had made a bold move and threw his hayfork at the elemental, but what he didn't count on was that the elemental now turned against him, leaving the young elementalist to her own fate. Ardo started running, not knowing what to do next, he couldn't fight and magic was out of the question. He was a simple farmer, why did she have to lure that thing here? He was a farmer, how could he turn that to his favour? He knew his fields like he knew the back of his hand, maybe that was the answer, as far as he knew stones was stupid so maybe he could make it get lost in the fields. Speeding up he ran through the field and lured the elemental further in.

After running for what seemed like ages he suddenly fumbled on his own feet and fell. To his own fear he saw that the hulking beast was only a few metres behind him. He knew his moment was now, he hadn't even started living yet and it didn't seem he was going to do so either. Suddenly a big explosion shattered the elementals back, stones where flying and the elemental landed on the ground face down. Through the smoke Ardo could see the wounded elementalist trying to catch her breath. Her clothes were trashed and cowered in stains of blood but there were not many open wounds, she came limping towards Adro trying to say something, just as she was arms reach from Ardo he could hear that "thank.." as she fainted in his arms.

After that they married each other, and was happy together, who was to blame them? They had saved each other’s lives. The fields was profitable as few ever had seen, some say it's the magic that held the stone elemental together, some say it's the girl alone that imbues the soil, others say it's their love. Netlah as her name was, educated the children in reading and other things she once was educated in. Not magic though as she hadn't been thought how to educate that as it was different from other things.

2 years after that incident Ardo now stands in the door to the tavern with everyone looking curiously at him

Ardo: I'm going to be a father

Everyone could see him glowing with happiness. Some stood up from their drinks, some didn't move and some went to congratulate him. All except one was happy about this, the village's elder, the only one with knowledge about magic, or so he claimed, had from the beginning the elementalist came to the village said that it was a bad omen, now it was even worse with an offspring of hers.

Month's passed and Netlah came closer to the birth, as she waited she didn't do what normal mothers do when having a baby, Netlah trained magic harder and harder for every day that went, hoping that some of it would be transferred to her baby. The day of the birth occurred on a day in the middle of the winter, and an extremely cold one too. When the water finally went it was midnight. The sky was thick with clouds and the wind was still, the only light came from a window on Ardo's house. Friends and family had come to be a part of the birth. Exhausted by all the training she had done it took 5 hours to deliver the baby, those were the most painful hours of her life and was a relief when she for the first time laid eyes of her baby, which was a girl, a beautiful little girl, Ardo was so happy that he actually cried. Netlah decided that the girl's name would be Rydna.

As Rydna grew she showed some skill with magic, especially water magic, she could water her father's fields, and other's if requested. She cooled drinks for the farmer's in the heat and made swimming pools for her and her friends to learn to swim in.

One day Netlah said that it was time for Rydna to go to a school where they could teach her to further improver her magic, there were none close by so Rydna would have to move to the school. In grief and happiness the 3 of them started the journey to the school in which Netlah had been educated. The road was long and hard. Rydna didn't want to part from her parents and was very angry and sorrow filled her heart.

They had travelled for 5 days when they saw a man with a broken wagon. Ardo stopped and asked if the old man needed some help. As Ardo jumped down from his own wagon he heard screams from within the wagon. Immediately he hurried to see what had happened but the old man stopped him. The old man said to him "give us all your gold and food and your wife and daughter will live". Ardo was stunned and he didn't hear what the man said, he just kept thinking that if something happened to Netlah and Rydna he would kill them all if it meant he would die himself.

An explosion tore apart the wagon, Ardo, the old man and 3 other men flew back from the wagon, and still not on their feet they saw how Rydna held her mom, begging something they didn't hear in the wreckage. Adro could see that Netlah had a deep wound going straight into her stomach. In all his life he hadn't felt so paralysed as now, fear, anger, despair, several feelings went through him. When he at last could get a grip of reality again he looked for the man that had lured them into this ambush, he was going to die, not for all gold in the world was he going to live. He found the man standing looking at him, with a small grin on his face " I didn't know you got a magician as wife". As Ardo launched himself at the man, aiming his hands at the troat, the man dodged as he laughed at Ardo's move.

Naqser · Mar 31, 2006, 01:03 PM // 13:03

2 of the 3 men was now back on their feet went to take Rydna as she mourned over her dead mother's body. Angry as she was she gathered all her energy and casting the most powerful spell that she ever had cast, the very air around the 2 men froze so much that it went solid. Exhausted by the spell she fell to the ground and couldn't get up, the third man had watched as the little girl had turned the very air they stood in into solid material and turning his 2 best friends into ice. Scared he rushed away from the battle scene bumping into the 2 brawling men.

The fight was interrupted and that little pause gave time to take his dagger out, taking Ardo as hostage planning to get the girl on his side. If he could get the girl to do that magic more he could rob almost anything and become rich.

Rydna looked up at her father, which had the man's dagger to his throat. Ardo begged him not to hurt him or Rydna, Rydna was so exhausted by the spell that she couldn't stand up or talk, all she could do was watch. The man said "join me, with your magic and my cunning we can become richer than you ever imagined, join me and your father lives". Even though the man was allmost screaming those words, she couldn't hear anything, her head was aching like nothing she had ever experienced before. A moment of silence, then the man said "okay, you wanted it that way" and slit Ardo's throat. Rydna watched as Ardo's shirt got dark red, she didn't understand what was happening.

The man slowly turned away, walking from the battle scene. Then all of a sudden he dropped his dagger, he could hold it, and it was too heavy. He turned around to see what was happening, Rydna had cut herself on a piece of iron and used her own blood as a power source for magic. Her eyes weren’t the sky-blue colour anymore. They had become purple, more catlike, glowing in the darkness. She looked at him, and he looked back for the first time in his life in fear. He had heard of some magicians that used their own blood to power up their spells, they harm themselves and turn that damage tenfold to their target. The first time he heard of them he said to himself that if they can agonise themselves and turn it to someone else, he is never to go on someone like that. His worst fear had become true in a little girl.

Rydna enjoyed it as much as she feared it, she hadn't regained all her strength so she thought she might use something else to power up her spells, something that she could transfer to him. She made him weak, but it hurt her. She had lost her family in a few minutes, what's the matter if she dies, as long as she takes him with her. Another cut, blood poured out of the cut, the man couldn't move, he fell on his knees. He was completely at the mercy of her. She cut her leg, let a little more blood than usual come out then uses it again.

Now on kneed he could only watch her, cutting herself, watching the blood come out, by instinct he looked at her open mouth. Fangs were growing, She came to him slowly, kicked him to the ground and then bit his arm, he felt a sharp pain through his arm and then felt her sucking out his blood, more and more. His eyes blackened.

She felt revitalised, never had she felt so good, so strong. Her wounds had stopped bleeding and in front of her was the killer of her parents. Dead, her parents, she suddenly remembered them, turning around to find Ardo lying face down with a big red stain under him. She looked at the place where she left Netlah. Netlahs eyes was tear-filled and filled with fear over what she had seen her daughter use, her mouth tried to say something. Rydna hurried to Netlah

Netlah: "You have to hurry... y..yo..y...you used necrom... m. mantic spells, dark spells.. tho... those are forb...bidden by law... i... if they catch you they will... ki.. Kill you, I can feel... M.. Monks comming.. They sense these things... I lo..love you whate..ver happens.. Know that... now ru..n before it's to late..."

With those last words Netlah didn't breath in, Rydna heard horses closing in, in fear she ran into the forest, but not to far, she wanted to stay with her family as long as possible, even though they were dead, but not be caught. She could hear the horses stop and men hit the ground as they demounted the horses. "By Grenth's breath, how can someone do something like this, 2 men frozen, a wagon destroyed, a woman and 2 other men killed, I'm sure it's that necromancer". At first she didn't understand what they meant, but it struck her like lightning, they talked about her, they thought that she had done all that. She started crying but stopped, or tried to as soon as she heard them "Foul people those necromancers, and never will we rid the world of them, hey, this one is alive, this man is alive, but he needs immediate attention to make it"

Naqser · Mar 31, 2006, 09:43 PM // 21:43

At first she didn't understand what they meant, but it struck her like lightning, they talked about her, they thought that she had done all that. She started crying but stopped, or tried to as soon as she heard them "Foul people those necromancers, and never will we rid the world of them, hey, this one is alive, this man is alive, but he needs immediate attention to make it"

She could hear the monks ease the man's pain with their comforting spells, as a deep dark man voice came through the air "search for tracks, the one responsible for this can't have gotten far" a woman's voice replied "this one is not careful, the tracks go right into the forest". Those words stuck into Rydna's head, "right into the forest", shocked as she was she stumbled up on feet and started running, vines tore her face, she could feel the leaves pressing against her skin as she tumbled into the unknown darkness.

When she was a little girl she had been afraid of the dark, always wanted a source of light at the bed when she went to bed, her mother always used to say that the light is the right path, as the dark leads to forbidden and horrible things before she kissed Rydna goodnight. Now, running in the forest the darkness was welcomer than the fate that awaited her if she was caught. It had rained quite a while when she noticed it, the path she ran on had long gone disappeared, only rocks and vines cowered the ground.

Rydna opened her eyes to a blinding light, it was only a dream she thought to herself. I'm going to get breakfast and then go out play with dad. When her eyes regained sight she found herself in a cave, her clothing torn and blood still cowering her face. Suddenly she burst into tears, her parents dead, she had become a villain, using dark arts of magic. Alone, all alone, she tried to pull herself together and make up a plan on how to get things better. How long and far she had run she didn't know. Where she was she didn't know. Still tears in her face she crawled outside to get some clue about where she was. Green leaf trees as far as she could see, a sound, somewhere from the east, a beautiful sound, one she hadn't heard before. Making her way through the bushes she found a little waterfall, clear water was pouring from within a rock into a little clear pond, when she looked into her reflection she was struck by fear, it was not she who looked back at her, it was someone with a bloody face and twisted eyes. She backed of with her hands on her face, trying to feel what was wrong, everything felt as usual, Carefully she looked into the pond again, hoping that it was the recent events that had caused her to see a hallucination. The reflection was still the same, a bloody face and purple eyes stared back at her.

Slowly she reached down into the cool water and started washing of her face. To her relief the face was unharmed, not a single scar, except for some around the left eye. For the first time in a long time she felt her body screaming for food. Where would she get that from, she was not a hunter, farming would take to long, no extra food and she couldn't go back as they had surely put out guards along the way.

The first creature she caught was easy, she got it trapped and though she felt sorry for it she snapped it's neck, made a fire and started cooking what entrails that seemed eatable. As she ate she threw up several times, it didn't taste well and it didn't look good either. She got around that by closing her eyes so she couldn't see what she put in her mouth. The first days went fairly good, she often wondered who the survivor was, was it the one that blood she had tasted, was it her father, or was it the third one that ran away?

After a week alone in the woods she decide she had to go home, people would know what to do there, and if Ardo was alive he would be there. The thought of Ardo being alive was the only thing that kept Rydna alive the journey home. For days she travelled along the way home, hiding her face for strangers and guards alike, thinking that the eye transformation had to do with the dark magic.

Finally in the outskirts of her home village she saw guards coming towards her, shouting that she had to stop. Panic went through her, if they caught her, everything would be over, she would die. In a desperate attempt to get out of their sight she jumped into the forest once more, but this time she knew where to go. This was to her a known forest. She quickly got rid of the guards, but stayed lose enough to hear what they said.

Sneaking behind the guards she followed them to the elder's house. They had gone to report. "Finally, there you 2 rats are, what happened, why don't you got someone?" the bigger guard replied "we saw someone, we think it was a girl, maybe the one that disappeared after the slaughter" it was quiet for a while, Rydna could only hear some mumbling and then the elder started talking again "didn't you say a necromancer did this? What makes you think a necromancer would take a child, not kill it?" the guard didn't hesitate to answer "well, there are 2 possibilities, either they took her because they knew she was talented in magic so they could make her one of their own or she ran away when they were attacked, and the necromancer ran after". It was as if the elder didn't hear what the guard said "you know, I had visions when that so called elementalist first appeared here, marrying that Ardo, a fine boy he was, visions it was about all of this, but the residents of this village don't give the respect the elder's anymore". Rydna had never heard that the elder had said something about visions, only bad omens. The elder started talking again "What I think happened was that the girl practiced dark magic while none watched, then when they travelled they had to stop and the girl went angry because she wanted to continue, killing her parents and those unfortunate people that happened to cross her" it was quiet for a moment when the other guard opened his mouth "but sir, it was a little girl, there is no possibility that she could have killed those 5 all alone and then escaped one of our best trackers" the elder's tone was different this time, darker and deeper, like he was mad or angry "I bet you it's that girl, I see no other explanation, now be gone". The guards had nothing to say and were forced to go.

Boiling with rage Rydna walked away from the elder's house, she had to get some new clothes, some of moms tailoring equipment, kitchen equipment, some food and a backpack to pack everything in. Her old house was empty, not a person on the outside nor the inside. It was easy to collect what she needed and then go out again.

As she walked past the elder's house again she heard a voice in her head "kill him" she stopped to see if someone was there, none. "kill him kill him kill him", not wanting to be detected she sat down in the dark and tried to locate the person which stalked her. "Kill the elder, he has cursed you and your family", something was wrong with the voice, still it was right. The elder had been against her family from the beginning. "He’s old anyway, end his suffering", without hesitation she took a knife in her hand, jumped inside the window, none there. He must be sleeping she thought. It took a while to find the bedroom, and there he was, in his expensive bed with silk sheets and big fluffy pillow, what a waste.

Rydna raised the knife above his chest, but lowered it again. Cold blood murder, could she do this? She looked at the knife and at the elder, and then she cut a deep wound on her arm and directed it on the elder, which stopped breathing. If she was alone, on the run and used illegal magic then she could just start practicing it right now, as she would need it in the future. "Monks sense these things" her mother's words echoed in her head, now she had to be quick, it would only be moments before the monks would be here, as she heard them shouting from the tavern. Taking the elder's most precious staff and robe she jumped back out, put the hood on and started running again.

Naqser · Apr 03, 2006, 11:58 AM // 11:58

Hiding from the ranger was easier than she thought, he was so drunk he thought a tree was a hydra and had to kill it, that a rock was a trap and they had to go around it. Then after a while with the monks trying to make him sober he started educating in how to get girls, as by him the monks "where scared and shy", which made the monks even angrier at him.

Rydna smiled, it was the first time since her parents died that she smiled. However, there were no time to waste, as the monks mumbled something about putting the ranger in a barrel of cold water, then slap him up good and throw him back in the forest to continue his "noble" work.

Rydna started running in a slow pace. The staff and the robe were heavy and with all that extra equipment on her back it didn't make things easier. After a little while she started wondering how she got away the first time, she knew she was chased by a ranger and that a ranger is an expert tracker, she had started running and then something happened and she woke up in a cave. That was of no help. She couldn't just collapse now and hope to wake up in another cave again. Suddenly she heard that strange voice again "jump left NOW", with no further thought she threw herself to the left, and just as she jumped an arrow passed her ear. Shocked she got back up and started running as fast as she could with the equipment. "Ditch the crap, I'll see to it that he doesn't find it", she ran a little further, hesitated and dropped everything, if the voice had made her dodge an arrow that already was in the air it would have no problem hiding her stuff. She was already tired and her legs wanted to give up but still she kept running, she heard someone shouting behind her but she couldn't hear what he shouted because her head felt like it was about to explode. Desperately she searched for a place to turn as she ran between the trees. Maybe she could fight him. they were deep enough in the forest so the monks wouldn't get there until she was long gone. She could hear the ranger gaining on her as his voice cam closer, would she win? An arrow hit a tree in front of her, no, she couldn't win, he was more experienced, older and had certainly hunted other necromancers in his life. She squeezed in between some trees and continued up on a hill, she carefully looked back to see where he was, he hadn't squeezed through yet but would soon do so or find another way.

While she was trying to catch her breath she looked at the other side of the hill to see if there was a possible escape route. To her fear there was a big thorn bush growing between the trees, she looked back to see how far the ranger was, he wasn't between the trees so he had might gone looking for a way around. Without even thinking Rydna ran downhill, covered her face, jumped and curled herself into a ball. She felt the thorns tearing her clothing and skin, warm blood coming out. She wanted to scream but she couldn't she had to cry but wasn't abl to do so. The human ball that flew through the landed on what seemed to be the person's back, and then opened up to form a human X on the ground. Her back and head was aching, legs and lungs burning, arms bleeding and the rest of her body was hurting in other ways.

"Did you see that? That person just jumped into those thorns". Rydna was still on her back and had closed eyes, she carefully opened them but it was almost pitch black, the thorn bush was so tight that little light came through, she could however hear the ranger speaking, but with whom? "I'm not going to do the same, what if I get killed? It'll take a long time before I'm even found". A growl answered that question, "he got a cat, or something that does cat sounds" she thought to herself.

"Wake up, you got things to do" but she ignored the voice, "I said WAKE UP". Rydna's eyes opened, a bright light however blinded her and forced her to close them again. Though her body hurt she sat up and tried to remember what had happened, she had killed the elder, been hunted by a ranger and jumped into a bush of thorns. All she had to do now was to get a hold of herself, get her stuff, if they were safe, treat her wounds and get food. Before she came out of the bush she made sure none waited for her on the outside, first she listened, tried to open her eyes and see if someone was there. "There is nobody on the outside, they think that you slipped out on the other side and went back". Rydna started to get angry "who are you and where are you hiding?” Everything was quiet. She calmed down and ignored the fact that she heard a voice in her head. Back at the place where she had dropped her equipment she couldn't see why the ranger had run past all of it or even got back to take it. After putting everything back on she didn't know where to go, her father might be alive but he wasn't at the village, every time someone got hurt they were moved to their own house, no matter how far away they were. Netlah had explained that being in the house you were brought up in or built have yourself brings a feeling of being secure, it was unexplainable but that's how it was. Ardo's wound and blood loss was life threatening so they couldn't have moved him home, it was too risky.

For a day Rydna wandered the forest without knowing neither where she was going nor what she was going to do. Picking fruits and berries was easier that hunting and it wasn't tiring either. Just as the sun was going down the trees ended and a big green field opened up in front of her. A few giant things with big mouths and 3 eyes each walked randomly around, looking for something to smash with their clubs. Luckily for her Rydna stood on the border to the forest with a dark cape and could avoid detection. The field never seemed to end and neither did the forest. As the sun settled behind the horizon she started to look for a place to sleep. There were no mountains, no place under the trees and she wouldn't like to be bashed to death in her sleep by the "happy faces".

After a curve in the forest she discovered a house made entirely out of stone, the door had fallen out so it was easy to get in, using her backpack as a pillow and the robe as a blanket she went to sleep.

Raxus · Apr 03, 2006, 08:51 PM // 20:51

This story is enthralling. Keep it up.

The only thing that I can criticize about your story is the many typos that I keep running across. Now this might not be a problem for others, but I have trouble following stories where I have to figure out what the writer meant to say. I know some would call me anal, but my grandmother would send back letters written to her corrected and a little note attached that said write back with the corrections. Now she was anal.

Other than that I don't have a problem. Good Character creation.

Naqser · Apr 07, 2006, 10:57 AM // 10:57

Have had a little break but the following parts will soon be available, have also corrected the previous parts *everyone screams in delight*

The following parts won't have that ma... have any typos (I hope) so it will be easier to read *Even louder screams*

Raxus · Apr 11, 2006, 04:04 PM // 16:04

Much easier to read the second time around.

Naqser · Apr 30, 2006, 10:51 PM // 22:51

Rydna woke up early, the floor was uncomfortable and it was cold. The morning mist still hung in the air but it made the air fresh. She filled her lungs several times before she got up. Through the door she could see several stones, they were flat and round at the top and all of them were placed in columns. Curiously she went to examine these strange things. On every one of them there were text and numbers, Rydna found one with clear golden text on it. “Things are not what they seem to be, like that bed of leafs. Never will you lay down on a bed of leafs again, as spikes hid under it”, she laughed. It was a long time since she laughed, back when everything was normal, then she used to laugh all the time. Now it was all out of hand, her magic had turned sinister and wicked, her face was not like it used to be and she had become a murderer and a thief. Rydna turned back to the stone house to pick up he stuff. She stopped, something wasn’t right. Everything was smaller than it had been before, in fact her clothes was tight. She looked at herself and got shocked, she had grown so much she looked like an adult.

Fear overwhelmed her. She fell to her knees trembling, this was unnatural. “I don’t have any use for a brat, I grown ups, besides, you don’t fit in anywhere and you can’t survive on your own in the forest”. Was it the one with the voice who had made her grow? This was scary, Rydna didn’t even know who the person was. Why would he do this to her. Once more she tried to bring herself together, packing her things and then move out again. Several times she had to stop and adjust her tight clothing, make it fit. After a long walk she came up to a gravel road. One end led to the forest while the other led to something that looked like a bigger village. She had been too much in the forest so she set her footsteps towards the village. The voice was correct; even though her cape would cover her she would still look like a kid. Now the cape fit her perfectly. The hood covered most of her face but her eyes still glowed so she had to cover them. She found a piece of cloth in her backpack. She made sure she could see through it and that nobody could she her eyes then went into the city.

Eyes gazed upon her, she was the stranger in town. A smile landed on her face. Netlah had told many stories where strangers came to the villages and bad things started to happen. But it had always been the stranger that saved the day. She turned left and went into the local tavern and looked around. None had noticed her. People were playing cards, drinking, trading rumours or sat unconscious on their chairs. A challenging dressed barmaid ran around taking orders and took payments for food and drinks. Rydna went to a table in a dark corner and sat down so she could see everyone. In her backpack she found a big bag full of gold, “must have been the voice” she thought to herself. She counted it, and in total it was worth about 500 gold. “hrmhrmm” came from somewhere, Rydna looked up and saw the barmaid ready with a pen and a note. “Good, what will you have?” she said, Rydna leaned back in the chair “ what does your strongest cost?” she heard herself say, this wasn’t good, she had never tasted alcohol before and now she ordered the strongest the house had. “10 gold” the barmaid snapped back. “I’ll take that and some food, whatever you got”. The barmaid scratched down the order and went to the kitchen. Rydna didn’t think she could do like that, ordering the strongest the house got, the gold she got must have given her some extra confidence. After a couple of seconds she decided she just could drink small amounts at a time.

A couple of minutes later the barmaid came back with a plate of something that didn’t look eatable, and something that looked more like paint than a drink. Rydna paid and the barmaid walked of, leaving Rydna alone. As she was about to take her first bite of the meat that looked like it had been run over by a wagon wheel on a sandy road, the doors swung open and a man followed by 4 others came in. They walked straight to the bartender, mumbled something to him and kept an eye on him as he fumbled with something under the disk. Rydna didn’t bother, it wasn’t her business what they did, because she was just passing through.

“blam” a reddish liquid stained the table. Rydna looked up, the man that had been at the counter now stood in front of her, looking at her with his drink on the table. Most of what had been in the cup was now on the table. Behind him the four men stood, also looking at her. All of the had some white shiny armour. “I got a couple of things to say,” he said as he smiled strangely. Rydna noticed that everyone in the tavern now was awake, surprisingly sober and was looking at her. “I’m the law keeper in this city and these are my men”, the man pointed at those behind him. He then turned back to Rydna, his smile was now a little bigger, and sinister. “This is my table your eating your crap at” as he said that he smashed the plate in several pieces and swiped it of the table. A grunt was heard behind them, the barmaid was not looking happy with the so called “law keeper”. The man didn’t care, “You are a stranger in this village, we don’t like strangers here”, as he stopped speaking it was completely quiet. Every single pair of eyes was fixed in the corner where Rydna and the five men stood. No one knew what was happening, or what was going to happen.

“I don’t care if you are blind, you are going down”, the man quickly grabbed Rydna’s cape, and threw her into the middle of the tavern before she had time to react. It was surprisingly empty there, just moments ago there had been people sitting there enjoying their drinks, now they all stood in a circle and shouted at her. Were they afraid of him, or her? She hadn’t said a word except the order of food. As she stood up she felt a strong pain in her stomach, and she flew through the tavern and hit the wall and collapsed on the floor. Big heavy steps came closer to her. She looked up and the law keeper stood there bent over with an evil grin. Something warm dripped from her nose and filled her mouth. She spit on the law keeper’s white metal boots and they became red. “Lick that up stranger” he yelled at her, he grabbed her head and forced it down to his blood-covered boots “lick it up NOW”.

That was it, nobody treated her like that, and her strength was now back so she didn’t have to cut herself to use magic. However she already had blood on her and in her mouth so she could use that first. Rydna’s mouth mumbled something no one heard. “What was that you said? Are you sorry?” Her muscles started itching, growing and stretching. With a swift hit on his leg he fell backwards, and she came on her feet so fast that nobody even saw it. As the law keeper came up himself Rydna’s sudden muscles started shrinking again, she had only used it to get up and get a fighting chance. Some time to escape too as the monks already were on the way, but how far from the city were they? “Didn’t see that one coming” he said calmly, “better teach you a lesson in manners”, the same evil grin was on his face again. Rydna mumbled something again, and pointed her hand at the law keeper. He only laughed “so you’re a blind magician, let’s see how well you fare in a fight, and may the unseen ones be easy on your soul” he said as he came walking towards Rydna with his fist raised. She didn’t move, she was used to pain, but this would hurt him more than it hurt her. It felt like a hammer hit her jaw, a sudden scream and she was on the floor again. “That hurt me too stranger, but I’m used to pain, let me see your face”. Pretending she was weak after the hit she lay still on the floor. She heard the footsteps and saw how he stretched down to remove her blindfold.

The law keeper backed from Rydna as his eyes met hers. It went completely quiet. Rydna was the first to break the silence “So what are you going to do now”. Now she was the one with an evil grin on her face. “So you’re a necromancer, aren’t you, those eyes, that scar and the magic you used, good for us, there is a bounty on a necromancer who did some very stupid things not far from here, and we could use the gold, boys, you know the drill”. The four other men drew their sword as one. This time however, Rydna didn’t plan on running, instead she wanted to practice her magic even further. She didn’t have anywhere to run either. Shouting out something not understandable she pointed her hand at one of them, then shouted again and pointed. They didn’t care. They just walked against her. Rydna rested a little, then again, shouting and pointing at the third one.

Suddenly the door literally exploded. “Oh no, the monks were close by, I’m not going to make it” Rydna thought as she panicked. The 4 men were only a few metres away from her when instead of monks came barging in a strange green-blue shimmering fog came in. Everyone started looking at the fog. A strange clacking sound was heard, several clacking sounds in fact. “I say you’d better leave this place, I have no control of the undead in this region” the strange voice said. Rydna really wanted to know who was the owner but didn’t bother much at the moment as the ones who made the clacking sounds appeared in the now black remains of what would be a door. A tall partly armor covered shadow stood in the opening. Where the face should have been there was three holes and an upper row of teeth. The bony fingers held something strange, a ball that had the shape of a head, exactly the shape of a head. Something dripped from it, Rydna froze, it was a head, and its eyes stared emptily into the crowded tavern. Where the hair should have been there were lines and curves of green color.

“It killed an apprentice, kill the wretched bonehead, we’ll handle the necromancer after this” the lawkeeper shouted to his men who instantly turned and sprinted against the figure standing in the door opening. The skeleton didn’t do any less than to do the same, but without the shouting, and as it left the door several other skeletons made their ways into the tavern. Chaos broke out, people screamed when the archer skeletons kept arrows in the air, skeletons fell to the floor in several pieces when everyone who knew how to fight turned their abilities to use, and those who couldn’t fight tried to flee. Rydna put on her blindfold, looked for someone who couldn’t fight. She saw a little girl under a table, the little girl was terrified and kept her knees tight to her chest. Rydna couldn’t just leave the girl there. The chaos grew even worse as more skeletons made their way in. Someone fell just in front of Rydna as she was to make her way to the girl but there was no time to avoid it. Rydna fell and was even angrier than before. Not only could she not escape but also when she tried to do something good the world was still against her. Shouting and cursing she pointed at the lifeless corpse.

As soon as her last word came from her mouth the body started twitching. Only seconds later the skin ripped from the inside. Rydna had to wipe some blood of her blindfold. On the corpse, or what seemed to be left of the corpse, which wasn’t much, stood a dwarfish looking creature, it had no skin, eyes or entrails. It was made of bone and flesh. Rydna didn’t know what to do, but then remembered the little girl under the table. As she even started thinking of her the strange creature started moving towards the table the girl was under. Rydna didn’t want to know what the abomination was about to do but she knew she had to get there before it did. Rydna came up on her feet once more and sprinted as fast as she could, she was side to side with the creature as yet another person stumbled in her way. This time she swore silently to herself, and tried to dodge him. Suddenly the man lay on the floor almost cut in half, the abomination stood behind him with one of it’s arm bloodier than it had been when it raised from the corpse. Rydna hadn’t noticed before but the abomination had one arm that was more like a bony sword than a usual arm, while the other arm still was normal. The abomination seemed to answer her thoughts, would it might be her creation? She had cursed and shouted at the corpse and then pointed at it then it appeared. “Splash” A big chunk of flesh fell of the abomination and landed soundly on the floor. It just stood there dripping blood and loosing bits of itself. Rydna thought it might be best to “use” the creature before it completely fell apart. Rydna thought of getting the little girl to safety, and the creature once more launched itself towards the table. It took some hits but didn’t make a sound or even bother with it. With it’s normal hand it threw the table away and then picked up the girl. She screamed and hit the creature for all she was worth.