I made this story based off a popular server that only lasted one day: Kingdoms of Anovia. It originated from Blothera Kingdom, which didn't last that long.
Enjoy.
Anovia's Lands
Written by: xterminator27
Chapter 1: Betrayal
It was a beautiful evening. The stars shone bright, everyone was asleep, and the gentle breeze swept in, symbolizing the peace of the night air. A guard by the name of Peyn however, was very tired. He had spent 3 hours on his nighttime shift, and he was ready to go back to his house and sleep. He was about to turn back, when he heard a silent whiz and a thunk. He felt hot blood coursing down his body, and the searing pain of an arrow. It was poisoned, and he became disoriented, and he fell off the castle walls. Shortly after, the alarm sounded. Every guard ran to the front gate, to confront the mysterious assassin, when a loud battle cry came from behind them. Foxes, the dread of Blothera, were now raiding the peaceful village of Stredat. A Berserker emerged from behind the line of guards, and smashed his battleaxe right into one guard's head. He quickly pulled out the axe to parry an oncoming attack. He seemed surrounded, but a true Fox never raids alone. Two arrows appeared in one guard's chestplate, and three more appeared in another guard's back. A tunnel opened up from underneath the city's well, and another berserker appeared. The city was caught by surprise, and what were once the city's finest guards were now prey to the Fox.
The Crusader named Dex appeared, shooting a hidden archer with his bow. He quickly grabbed another arrow out of his quiver and shot an incoming berserker. The all the townspeople had awoken to the chaos by now, and were screaming, pushing past each other to escape. An ender pearl landed on the ground, in the middle of the village, and a thief appeared where it landed. He made sure the guards didn't see him, and he sneaked into a house and proceeded to rob it of all goods. The brave crusader cut down every Fox he saw, and soon came face to face with a dark figure. He was The Dark Fox, a nameless man, known for killing almost everyone who lived to see him. He was an elite assassin, and was known to suddenly disappear, only to be found cutting down warriors from behind. Dex looked straight into his eyes, and swung his sword, only to find it parried by a knife. The Dark Fox laughed, and threw his knife at Dex, searing his shoulder. He then pulled out his own sword, and swung quickly, each met by a parry. Guards running in between them interrupted their fighting. Dex climbed to a watchtower, and grabbed his bow. He scanned the city for the leader of the Foxes, but couldn't see him. A loud noise, very close to him, caught his attention. It was an arrow that missed his head by an inch. He looked down in time to see the Dark Fox shoot another arrow. This one managed to cut his arm, and he shot back awkwardly. The crusader still fought, shooting more arrows at his opponent, and managed to hit him in a weak spot in his leggings. The Dark Fox, immediately fell, and Dex went down to unmask the man of secrets.
Dex pulled off the Dark Fox's helmet, and recognized him at once. It was Harry, the duke of the city. Dex, gasped, but Harry only smiled. "I play a good act don't I?" he said. Dex replied,
"Your crimes will be paid for, Fox."
"Will they be?"
"As long as I live, I will make sure that you never see the sun again."
"Interesting."
Harry then snatched the Crusader's knife out of it's sheath, and stabbed Dex in the stomach. Dex fell to the side, and heard, "As long as you live? You won't." before he blacked out.
Chapter 2: Welcome back
A pig wandered into a clearing within a forest. It had been looking for food, but all the food it wanted was high in the trees. It came across a small pile of food, and began to approach it. The sound of a string being released was heard, and an arrow stuck right out of the pig's side, killing it instantly. "Nice shot," whispered George, who was hiding up high in a tree. His friend, a hunter by the name of Alice, replied, "Thanks, I try my best." George and Alice were both the age of 18, and were close friends. Alice was a hunter, but George was a page, whose biggest dream was to become a paladin. George jumped down from the tree, picked up the pig, and slew it over his shoulder. "I think it's time we return to Stredat, we've been out here all night. Look, the sun is rising already," he said.
As they approached the village, they saw fire in the distance. "What in the? What happened?" exclaimed George, horrified to see houses burning to the ground. As they approached the gates, the bodies of the dead came into view. They were everywhere, guards, townspeople, and Foxes. They had to walk through puddles of red blood. The blood was slightly fresh, indicating that the raid had happened while they were out. Alice was just as horrified as George. Then she saw Peyn, her father, who lay dead on the ground arrow sticking out of his back. She gasped, rushed over to him, and pulled off his helmet. However, he wasn't as dead as he looked. He coughed, opened his eyes, and blinked. He gasped for air, and tried to sit up, but had to lie back down.
"Who are you?" he rasped, coughing some more. "I feel... I feel like... I fell, didn't I? I can't remember, that poison arrow wiped me of my memory." Alice had a feeling of overwhelming sadness, seeing her father in this state. "Father, it's me, Alice. George is here too. Can you hear me?" George left Alice to talk to her father, and went to look for his house. He found it burned, but no one was dead inside. He called out, "Hello? Anyone there?" No one replied. He saw a note on the table, and picked it up. It said:
"George, I knew there would be a time when I would not be there to take care of you, and that time is now. I wrote this note, in case I was ever to get killed. If you look in the basement, you will see 4 stones jutting out of the wall. They are buttons, marked off with the numbers 5, 2, 3, and 7. I want you to press 7, 5, 3, and 2, in that order. It should open up a door to a secret room I made, to conceal my past."
George walked down the stairs into the basement, and found that their chests of possessions were looted. He searched every corner of the room for the buttons, and managed to find them on a wall to the right of the chests. He clicked them in order, and the stones underneath the stairs moved away. "So my father knew about redstone," he whispered to himself. George walked into the doorway, and found an ender chest right in front of him. George was seeing new surprises every minute. "He had artifacts of the Enders?" he said to himself. He opened the chest. Inside was a full set of iron armor, and a diamond sword, which glowed with the enchantments it had.
George fitted the armor on to him, and sheathed the sword. There was one more content in the chest, another note. It looked like it was written quickly and hastily. It read, "George, Blothera is no longer safe. The Foxes are currently raiding the last village of Blothera, and they are determined to win. If you receive this note, it means that I am dead. However, hope is not lost. If you look in my room, you must find my closet. Inside, is a map to a land I found years ago, called Anovia. I told a guard to escort any townsperson he could get to this place. You should hurry and catch up with them.
When George left his former house, he saw Peyn standing up, but he was noticeably in pain. Alice was with him, and ran to George when he appeared. "Where have you been? I was worried when I couldn't find you, so I... where did you get that armor and sword?" She yelled. George shrugged, and replied, "I found this sword and armor in my house. Here, take a look at this map." He handed to map to her, and she scanned over it. "Interesting," she muttered. "Where does it take us?"
"To a land called Anovia. A note said that a group of guards and townspeople are heading there now."
"So will we try to catch up? They aren't that far ahead of us."
"The note left behind said we should. Let's get going."
Chapter 3: Mobs
George, Alice, and Peyn set off immediately. They walked for hours, following the trail left behind by the townspeople. The sun continued to rise, and the air heated up. George's armor was heating up quickly, and he suggested that they wait for the night, and continue from there. "The townspeople will have to stop and take shelter at night. Plus the air will be much cooler than this," he reasoned.
So they took rest under a tree, and waited for nighttime. When nighttime came, the group got up and traveled again. The night was cool, and the night was very quiet and peaceful. The sound of bones rattling rose into the air, making Peyn curious. He approached the sound, and was met by a skeleton, which was standing up. Peyn was about to go back, when an arrow shaft appeared at his feet. He looked up to see a bow in the skeleton's hand. He drew his sword out of his sheath, when the skeleton shot again, this time the arrow scraped his helmet. Peyn lashed out to the right, cutting off the skeleton's head. He turned around to see an explosion, and George getting blasted off the ground, and flying through the air, landing 10 meters away from his original position. Peyn pulled out a knife and threw it at a man who was approaching him with outstretched arms. He heard a groan, and saw that the man was dead, but he was somehow alive, and still standing. Peyn remembered a time a fellow guard joked about someone dying, but instead of coming back to life, he was rid of all death. He called it Undead, and that was exactly what this being seemed to be. The undead creature slammed its arm into Peyn, causing a considerable amount of pain. Peyn yelped, and lashed another blow to the undead beast, killing it instantly. He immediately ran to George, who was in danger of being killed by a massive spider. Peyn pulled out his throwing knife, and threw it at this monstrosity. It screamed in pain, as the knife cut off half of its face. Peyn proceeded to grab his dagger, and lunged at the gigantic eight-legged beast. He stabbed it in the throat, and the spider drew its last breath before dying.
George groaned, and picked himself up. He remembered a green monster with no arms had exploded, causing him to fly through the air. He saw his sword a few meters away. He picked it up, and held it high over his head, before smashing atop the head of an enderman sneaking up on Alice. The sword cast a glow of energy, and the enderman yelled in pain, and caught on fire. Alice looked behind her to see George cut the enderman, and gave a small grin, before returning to shoot more skeletons. The battle raged on for another hour, and George's stamina was quickly depleting. "We need to get out of here!" he yelled, after cutting down another spider. "He's right," said Peyn. "They just keep coming at us. There's a cave I saw a few meters from here, we should take cover there."
"Agreed," replied Alice.
They entered the cave, which was absent of all light. George pulled out a torch, lit it, and set it on the wall. He put down his sleeping bag, and pulled up a rock to sit on. he threw some sticks together and started a fire. Warmth filled the cave, and the glow of light came from the fire. George sat down, and took a deep breath, in and out. The amount of energy that was taken up fighting that mob of monsters was substantially large. Peyn sat down, and asked, "So George, who was the mystery man eho dropped off that note?"
"I would think that it was my father, but I was told that he was killed in the Battle of Velca."
"Was he? I don't remember, except for the fact that he was a merchant that pulled out a diamond sword that day and fought the Foxes. He had 4 arrows in his back, and he still fought on."
"He was a merchant? I was told he was a paladin."
"I don't know. We learned he died after he went to the hospital. HIs death might have been faked."
"Well if he was the one who sent the note to me, then he is dead now, because it said that he wouldn't have placed the note if he wasn't sure he was going to die."
"I guess we'll never know," said Peyn, yawning and going into his sleeping bag.
George look to see Alice was already asleep. He yawned as well, realizing how tired he was, and decided to take a rest as well. He covered the entrance with dirt, so that he could sleep without getting killed.
Chapter 4: Here be bandits
George woke up from a wonderful dream, where he was a paladin, destroying Foxes, and then the Crusader giving up his rank to him. When he realized he was awake, he remembered that the foxes killed everyone, even the crusader. He sat up, yawned, and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He looked around the cave. He saw Peyn, who had his face in a scowl. "He probably had a nightmare," George muttered to himself. He looked for Alice, and found the cave opening wasn't sealed off anymore. He looked outside, and saw Alice sitting alone on a rock. He went to join her, to see if she was okay. He sat down next to her, and asked "Are you okay?" She nodded, and told George to go back to the cave, so they could eat breakfast together.
George arrived to see Peyn sitting up. He looked to the cave entrance to see George and Alice ducking below the ceiling to get into the cave. "There you are," he said. "I wanted to tell you something. I had a dream last night. I was a child again, and my mother was telling me a story about an undead creature she called a zombie. That was before it appeared and killed me. I guess that's what they were."
"Probably," Replied George. "We should keep moving if we want to catch up to the townies."
So after a short breakfast, they headed out into the wilderness. They walked for hours following the tracks left behind by the townspeople ahead of them. The air was cool, and Alice's hair flowed with the breeze, occasionally getting in George's face. Alice laughed when that happened, and they continued to move forward. Suddenly, they heard a voice from the forest. "Put your weapons on the ground, and put your hands in the air," came the dry, gravelly voice. They did as they were told, and a group of six bandits appeared out of cover of the trees. One grabbed George's coin purse, and dug through it, looking for tae. Another bandit approached Alice with an interest in her. She spat on his face, and he grinned, taking a step back. The bandit leader looked them over, and saw George's sword. It was blue, and he had never seen anything like it before.
The bandit leader was occupied, with his back turned towards the group, examining the sword. Then, and arrow appeared in the back of a bandit archer. He fell face first to the ground, causing the bandits to change their attention to their fallen comrade. Peyn quickly slipped some throwing knives to Alice and George, and then unsheathed a hidden dagger. He turned towards the bandit leader, who was still examining the sword, and used the knife to kill him silently. He then snuck up on the other bandits, who were examining their dead comrade. Peyn snuck up on them as well. He quickly slashed the dagger behind one bandit’s knee, knocking him to the ground. He brought the knife up again to cut down another bandit. George retrieved his sword, and threw a throwing knife at another bandit. The knife lodged itself in his back, causing him to drop like a stone. Another arrow came out of the shadows, impaling itself into another bandit's chest. Peyn looked at the bandit he slashed behind the knee, who was on the ground, clutching his wound. He brought out some leather wrist cuffs, and cuffed his wrists together, but bandaged the bandit's wounds. Two paladin archers stepped out of their hiding place to collect the bandit. "Ah, Peyn!" exclaimed one. "How good to see you!
"You too, Travis," replied Peyn.
George asked, "Do you know where a group of migrating townies went?"
"Yes, we were part of the paladins who guided them out of Blothera. However, we were sent to take care of some thieves around here. Turns out you guys were captured by them," The second paladin said hurriedly. "We can probably catch up to them if we went now. Take the prisoner too, he can be of some use."
The traveling group caught sight of a few pitched tents, and hurried to make it there before night. When the townspeople caught sight of them, they rushed to greet them. They were given a nice new tent, with flooring and furniture. They ate dinner, talked to the townspeople, and went to bed. Peyn was informed that the crusader Dex had died during the fox raid, and that he was the only paladin who knew how to wield a bow and a sword. When Peyn was just about to return to his tent, he saw something move in the shadows. He drew his sword, and followed the man. He crouched down and slowly approached him. He grabbed him, and put the sword blade to his neck, but did not cut.
The mystery man struggled to be free, but Peyn held tight. Then he let out a strange cry, and tried again, unsuccessfully, to break free. Peyn heard a familiar whiz and thunk, but this time, the arrow stuck itself to a block of wood. He took the captive with him, and raced for the tent. "Attackers!' he shouted "Paladins, to arms!" He took the man to his tent, to see who he was. He looked like a bandit, but he had far more scars of battle than an average bandit. "Who are you?" Peyn asked. The man responded with, "Wolf. Dark Wolf Clan." and said no more than that. Peyn tied him to a large stone, and grabbed out his sword. He woke up George.
"Take Alice to someplace safe. We are being attacked," he said.
George woke her up, and they left the tent village, while Peyn closed his eyes, breathed in, and breathed out. He sprinted to and archer, and pulled out two throwing knives with his free hand. He flung them at the opponent archer, who fell to the ground. Took his sword, and turned to meet an axe wielding attacker. Peyn parried the attacks, and when the axe warrior swung to the right, Peyn ducked, grabbed the handle of the axe, pushed it towards his opponent, who got hit in the stomach by the handle of his own axe, and then Peyn swung his sword to the left, hitting an unprotected area of armor. He pulled on the axe handle, sending it flying away, and stabbed his sword into his opponent's stomach, who got down on his knees, clutch his wound, and finally collapsed on the ground.
Peyn sheathed his sword, and drew his bow. He applied posion to his arrow, and shot it. The targeted archer was hit in the neck, and died instantly. Peyn shot more targets, put his bow back, and was about to turn back to the tent city, when an arrow flew past where his head used to be. He drew two knives, and faced his adversary, who put away his bow, and drew a sword. The enemy cut at Peyn many times, but each was parried or dodged. Peyn jumped into the air, vaulting himself over his opponent, and threw both knives at him, before drawing his own sword. Peyn lashed out with uppercuts, stabs, slashes, and downward cuts, each met by a parry. He swung once more, waiting for the parry. When it happened, he spun around, lashing out a kick from his left leg, striking his opponent in the face.
Peyn's opponent's grunted from the blow, and he pulled out a dagger. He lashed out with both sword and dagger at Peyn, who took steps back. Peyn gripped his sword with both hands, and swung downwards, waiting for his opponent to block. When he did, Peyn let one hand go of the sword, and with it, he snatched his own dagger, and attempted to stab his opponent, but was blocked by a kick, sending the dagger flying out of his hands. The enemy yelled, "Wolves! To me!" Peyn didn't know who the wolves were, but they seemed familiar. Peyn backed away from the wolf he was fighting, who seemed to be the leader. He grabbed a potion of strength, drank it, and threw the empty bottle at the enemies who were arriving to assist their leader.
Peyn was about to strike, when a paladin swordsman flew over his head, and landed on the ground in front of them. He swung his sword in a wide arc, trying to injure as many wolves as he could. He then rushed into the group of wolves, cutting down one after the other, before his sword was knocked out. Even without the sword, he used his fists to punch his opponents, striking each one in the face, and drew his dagger. He confronted the leader, who laughed, and drew his own knife. They circled each other, and finally the paladin swung first, allowing the wolf leader to kick the arm holding the weapon, and then threw his knife in his stomach. The paladin fell, but before the wolf leader could actually kill him, Peyn interfered, swinging his sword at the wolf's leg, causing him to stumble. He turned, and both Peyn and the wolf stared each other in the eye, before the wolf leader retreated to the forest. They both knew they would meet again.
Chapter 5: Anovia
Peyn returned to the tents, exhausted, and sat down. The paladins won the fight against the wolves, but both sides had lost many lives. Peyn went to the medical tent to see who the paladin was that had been injured assisting Peyn. When Peyn saw him in the light, he recognized him at once. It was Paul, a young paladin, who had a lot of talent. Peyn trained him, four months ago, and was glad to see that he didn't die in Blothera. George returned to the city, and looked at the map he had recovered. Anovia was only five kilometers away.
The townspeople set off, this time without stopping, and without any distractions. In less than an hour, they managed to reach their destination. The townspeople made tents and unpacked, and went to their everyday jobs. The woodcutters cut wood, and the miners mined for iron and diamonds. They built a city, and houses, in just two weeks. They elected a duke of the town, called Getimunth, and the duke was named Tompa. Peyn was elected crusader of the townspeople, and he and the paladins built a barracks inside of the town. The townspeople were returning back to their normal peaceful lives.
It wouldn't last long.
People began to have political arguments, riots broke out in the streets, and people wanted to be leader of the town. The paladins quickly escorted them out of the town of Getimunth, and they decided to make their own town. It became clear pretty quickly that a war would break out. Even the paladins became split, and The War of Anovia began. They had only been in Anovia for two months, and war broke out already. Peyn decided to train George, since he had the potential to be a great paladin
George woke up. It was early in the morning, and today he had training. He grabbed his pack and set off to the training area. When he arrived no one was there. He slowly stepped forward, and he was caught in a headlock from behind. George quickly ducked down and pulled the arm with him, sending Peyn to the ground. "Good job," he said. "You passed the first test I've given you, reaction timing."
George grinned, and then approached the practice dummy. He practiced left swings, right swings, downward cuts, and the one that he has the most trouble with, uppercuts. He practiced all these, until he almost reached perfection. He tried hard to pass the most difficult acrobatic obstacles, like jumping four meters. He learned how to climb, to vault, and to leap large distances. He was soon able to jump his way from one end of the city to the next, without falling off the roof. He was able to leap into the air, spin in midair, and throw knives right into the target's bull's-eye. He learned how to sprint faster, and run longer distances. He could fist fight as well as Paul could. His skill with a sword improved, and he was able to decapitate five practice dummies by swinging his sword in a wide arc. He could dual wield a sword and a knife, and succeed at taking out targets with them.
After a week of training, George had become a paladin, one of the most skilled ones too. George was very excited to finally become the person he wanted to be, a paladin warrior, and a good one at that. What he didn't expect was the long hours of guard duty. He sat there, bored, all day, every day. Then one day, on guard duty, a gigantic ball of flame slammed down in the city. Every paladin circled the wall, but it was George who saw the catapult. They were being raided.
George sounded the alarm, and he rushed outside the gates to meet the opposition. He took cover behind a tree, and was joined by Peyn and some more paladins. "I'll provide a distraction," he whispered. "You have to ambush them from the left side."
George nodded, and he took three paladin swordsmen with him. They approached the enemies, who were part of the Isamoth kingdom. George saw Peyn and a few other paladins shooting arrows at them, and the enemy paladins moved in on them. George nodded, and the four paladins shot forward, swords in hand, attacking their opponents. George cut down an Isamoth soldier, and lashed out a kick to another one. He swung downward, killing another enemy, then quickly pulled out his sword from the body, to parry incoming attacks.
Paul was taking out enemies with his sword and his fist, breaking soldiers noses before cutting them down. He slammed his shoulder into the back of another enemy, sending him to the ground. He looked to his right to see Peyn and the other paladins rush out from the trees with their swords. He sheathed his sword and pulled out the mace he had on him, and the skull crushing began.
Peyn shot down another enemy, and signaled for the paladins to rush out of the trees to take out the enemies, and they nodded. They rushed forward, swords in hand, and plunged into enemy lines. Peyn crouched in the crowd, and pulled out his dagger. He began to cut and stab the legs of his opponents, making them fall. He then jumped back and drew his sword. He rammed the butt of his sword onto an injured enemy's helmet, knocking him out. He cut down another enemy and advanced. He saw George in the crowd, taking out more and more Isamoth soldiers. Peyn also saw the Isamoth general approaching him.
Geroge looked to his right to see a well-armed man, with a scar running down his face approaching him. He swung at him, only to find that he was parried. George attacked more and more, each time getting blocked or parried. The general swung at George, and he attempted to parry it, but the man's swing was hard, and he had a hard time parrying. He pulled out his knife and swung his sword while he tried to cut and stab with the dagger. The general jumped over the knife swings and dodged the sword cuts. He jumped up, span in midair, and landed a hard kick to George's chest, breaking one of his ribs. George fell to the ground, but got back up. He lost his dagger, but he still had his sword. He gripped it with two hands and swung down hard. The general deflected it and swung back, causing George to parry it and lose his sword. He lashed out with punches and kicks, and managed to land a few blows on the general.
George dodged a sword swing, and picked up his sword. He tightened his grip, causing a glow to come out of the diamond sword. "Of course!" he thought "It has a fire enchantment on it." George threw a knife at the general's leg, and the knife impaled itself into the armor, and blood began to flow out of the injury. The Isamoth general was distracted for just a moment, which was all George needed. He swung the sword, cutting the chestplate, and the general screamed in pain, as the sword glowed with great energy. The fire leaped from the base of the sword to the tip, and the general caught fire. Because he was wearing iron armor, he was going to cook in his armor. George however, couldn't stand seeing anyone is such great pain, and put the general out of his misery by stabbing him straight in the heart with the dagger.
George was about to turn and walk back to the castle when an opponent tackled him to the ground. He punched George in the face repetitively, and finally pulled out a dagger. He cut George's forehead, and blood began to flow out. He was about to stab him to finish him off, but a figure in midair landed on top of the soldier, and slammed his head into the ground. He looked up and growled, but was met with a punch to the face. Then Peyn appeared from the crowd, and cut down George's would-be killer. George looked to see who had saved him, and it turned out to be Alice. She gave him a smile, and helped him up. He returned the smile, and they looked to see the Isamoth soldiers retreating. The paladins of Getimunth let out a victory cry, and happily returned to the city.
When they got back, they all had a celebration. Everyone was cheerful and talking, while others mourned the death of the paladins who died protecting the city. Peyn went to the tavern to join the other paladins who were drinking. George went to his house, cleaned his sword and armor, and put it away. He was about to go to bed when he heard a knock at the door. It was Alice. "Thanks for saving me back there, Alice," he said. She nodded, and gave him a hug, before going back to her house. George went to bed with the thought, "Where did the wolves go?" before drifting into sleep.
Well a great, great start to a fanfiction, although it does hurt my eyes without spaces between paragraphs. It could be intriguing if you had the characters ponder about Anovia, and have a little more normal interaction like small conversations between all the bloodshed. My guess is that this story lies in a very violent or possibly dystopian world, which makes me like it even more. It is a good start, much better then alot of recent fanfictions, though it would be nice if you somehow managed the reader to get more involved into the story so that we can root for certain characters and dislike others. A rep for you is in order, because this story certainly takes the cake.
Well a great, great start to a fanfiction, although it does hurt my eyes without spaces between paragraphs. It could be intriguing if you had the characters ponder about Anovia, and have a little more normal interaction like small conversations between all the bloodshed. My guess is that this story lies in a very violent or possibly dystopian world, which makes me like it even more. It is a good start, much better then alot of recent fanfictions, though it would be nice if you somehow managed the reader to get more involved into the story so that we can root for certain characters and dislike others. A rep for you is in order, because this story certainly takes the cake.
Thank you for your suggestions. I did notice the paragraph spacing was bad, but I've tried to fix it, and haven't gotten any results. It does lie in a very violent world, because both servers it came from were really violent, and that sparked my ideas.
Enjoy.
Anovia's Lands
Written by: xterminator27
Chapter 1: Betrayal
It was a beautiful evening. The stars shone bright, everyone was asleep, and the gentle breeze swept in, symbolizing the peace of the night air. A guard by the name of Peyn however, was very tired. He had spent 3 hours on his nighttime shift, and he was ready to go back to his house and sleep. He was about to turn back, when he heard a silent whiz and a thunk. He felt hot blood coursing down his body, and the searing pain of an arrow. It was poisoned, and he became disoriented, and he fell off the castle walls. Shortly after, the alarm sounded. Every guard ran to the front gate, to confront the mysterious assassin, when a loud battle cry came from behind them. Foxes, the dread of Blothera, were now raiding the peaceful village of Stredat. A Berserker emerged from behind the line of guards, and smashed his battleaxe right into one guard's head. He quickly pulled out the axe to parry an oncoming attack. He seemed surrounded, but a true Fox never raids alone. Two arrows appeared in one guard's chestplate, and three more appeared in another guard's back. A tunnel opened up from underneath the city's well, and another berserker appeared. The city was caught by surprise, and what were once the city's finest guards were now prey to the Fox.
The Crusader named Dex appeared, shooting a hidden archer with his bow. He quickly grabbed another arrow out of his quiver and shot an incoming berserker. The all the townspeople had awoken to the chaos by now, and were screaming, pushing past each other to escape. An ender pearl landed on the ground, in the middle of the village, and a thief appeared where it landed. He made sure the guards didn't see him, and he sneaked into a house and proceeded to rob it of all goods. The brave crusader cut down every Fox he saw, and soon came face to face with a dark figure. He was The Dark Fox, a nameless man, known for killing almost everyone who lived to see him. He was an elite assassin, and was known to suddenly disappear, only to be found cutting down warriors from behind. Dex looked straight into his eyes, and swung his sword, only to find it parried by a knife. The Dark Fox laughed, and threw his knife at Dex, searing his shoulder. He then pulled out his own sword, and swung quickly, each met by a parry. Guards running in between them interrupted their fighting. Dex climbed to a watchtower, and grabbed his bow. He scanned the city for the leader of the Foxes, but couldn't see him. A loud noise, very close to him, caught his attention. It was an arrow that missed his head by an inch. He looked down in time to see the Dark Fox shoot another arrow. This one managed to cut his arm, and he shot back awkwardly. The crusader still fought, shooting more arrows at his opponent, and managed to hit him in a weak spot in his leggings. The Dark Fox, immediately fell, and Dex went down to unmask the man of secrets.
Dex pulled off the Dark Fox's helmet, and recognized him at once. It was Harry, the duke of the city. Dex, gasped, but Harry only smiled. "I play a good act don't I?" he said. Dex replied,
"Your crimes will be paid for, Fox."
"Will they be?"
"As long as I live, I will make sure that you never see the sun again."
"Interesting."
Harry then snatched the Crusader's knife out of it's sheath, and stabbed Dex in the stomach. Dex fell to the side, and heard, "As long as you live? You won't." before he blacked out.
Chapter 2: Welcome back
A pig wandered into a clearing within a forest. It had been looking for food, but all the food it wanted was high in the trees. It came across a small pile of food, and began to approach it. The sound of a string being released was heard, and an arrow stuck right out of the pig's side, killing it instantly. "Nice shot," whispered George, who was hiding up high in a tree. His friend, a hunter by the name of Alice, replied, "Thanks, I try my best." George and Alice were both the age of 18, and were close friends. Alice was a hunter, but George was a page, whose biggest dream was to become a paladin. George jumped down from the tree, picked up the pig, and slew it over his shoulder. "I think it's time we return to Stredat, we've been out here all night. Look, the sun is rising already," he said.
As they approached the village, they saw fire in the distance. "What in the? What happened?" exclaimed George, horrified to see houses burning to the ground. As they approached the gates, the bodies of the dead came into view. They were everywhere, guards, townspeople, and Foxes. They had to walk through puddles of red blood. The blood was slightly fresh, indicating that the raid had happened while they were out. Alice was just as horrified as George. Then she saw Peyn, her father, who lay dead on the ground arrow sticking out of his back. She gasped, rushed over to him, and pulled off his helmet. However, he wasn't as dead as he looked. He coughed, opened his eyes, and blinked. He gasped for air, and tried to sit up, but had to lie back down.
"Who are you?" he rasped, coughing some more. "I feel... I feel like... I fell, didn't I? I can't remember, that poison arrow wiped me of my memory." Alice had a feeling of overwhelming sadness, seeing her father in this state. "Father, it's me, Alice. George is here too. Can you hear me?" George left Alice to talk to her father, and went to look for his house. He found it burned, but no one was dead inside. He called out, "Hello? Anyone there?" No one replied. He saw a note on the table, and picked it up. It said:
"George, I knew there would be a time when I would not be there to take care of you, and that time is now. I wrote this note, in case I was ever to get killed. If you look in the basement, you will see 4 stones jutting out of the wall. They are buttons, marked off with the numbers 5, 2, 3, and 7. I want you to press 7, 5, 3, and 2, in that order. It should open up a door to a secret room I made, to conceal my past."
George walked down the stairs into the basement, and found that their chests of possessions were looted. He searched every corner of the room for the buttons, and managed to find them on a wall to the right of the chests. He clicked them in order, and the stones underneath the stairs moved away. "So my father knew about redstone," he whispered to himself. George walked into the doorway, and found an ender chest right in front of him. George was seeing new surprises every minute. "He had artifacts of the Enders?" he said to himself. He opened the chest. Inside was a full set of iron armor, and a diamond sword, which glowed with the enchantments it had.
George fitted the armor on to him, and sheathed the sword. There was one more content in the chest, another note. It looked like it was written quickly and hastily. It read, "George, Blothera is no longer safe. The Foxes are currently raiding the last village of Blothera, and they are determined to win. If you receive this note, it means that I am dead. However, hope is not lost. If you look in my room, you must find my closet. Inside, is a map to a land I found years ago, called Anovia. I told a guard to escort any townsperson he could get to this place. You should hurry and catch up with them.
When George left his former house, he saw Peyn standing up, but he was noticeably in pain. Alice was with him, and ran to George when he appeared. "Where have you been? I was worried when I couldn't find you, so I... where did you get that armor and sword?" She yelled. George shrugged, and replied, "I found this sword and armor in my house. Here, take a look at this map." He handed to map to her, and she scanned over it. "Interesting," she muttered. "Where does it take us?"
"To a land called Anovia. A note said that a group of guards and townspeople are heading there now."
"So will we try to catch up? They aren't that far ahead of us."
"The note left behind said we should. Let's get going."
Chapter 3: Mobs
George, Alice, and Peyn set off immediately. They walked for hours, following the trail left behind by the townspeople. The sun continued to rise, and the air heated up. George's armor was heating up quickly, and he suggested that they wait for the night, and continue from there. "The townspeople will have to stop and take shelter at night. Plus the air will be much cooler than this," he reasoned.
So they took rest under a tree, and waited for nighttime. When nighttime came, the group got up and traveled again. The night was cool, and the night was very quiet and peaceful. The sound of bones rattling rose into the air, making Peyn curious. He approached the sound, and was met by a skeleton, which was standing up. Peyn was about to go back, when an arrow shaft appeared at his feet. He looked up to see a bow in the skeleton's hand. He drew his sword out of his sheath, when the skeleton shot again, this time the arrow scraped his helmet. Peyn lashed out to the right, cutting off the skeleton's head. He turned around to see an explosion, and George getting blasted off the ground, and flying through the air, landing 10 meters away from his original position. Peyn pulled out a knife and threw it at a man who was approaching him with outstretched arms. He heard a groan, and saw that the man was dead, but he was somehow alive, and still standing. Peyn remembered a time a fellow guard joked about someone dying, but instead of coming back to life, he was rid of all death. He called it Undead, and that was exactly what this being seemed to be. The undead creature slammed its arm into Peyn, causing a considerable amount of pain. Peyn yelped, and lashed another blow to the undead beast, killing it instantly. He immediately ran to George, who was in danger of being killed by a massive spider. Peyn pulled out his throwing knife, and threw it at this monstrosity. It screamed in pain, as the knife cut off half of its face. Peyn proceeded to grab his dagger, and lunged at the gigantic eight-legged beast. He stabbed it in the throat, and the spider drew its last breath before dying.
George groaned, and picked himself up. He remembered a green monster with no arms had exploded, causing him to fly through the air. He saw his sword a few meters away. He picked it up, and held it high over his head, before smashing atop the head of an enderman sneaking up on Alice. The sword cast a glow of energy, and the enderman yelled in pain, and caught on fire. Alice looked behind her to see George cut the enderman, and gave a small grin, before returning to shoot more skeletons. The battle raged on for another hour, and George's stamina was quickly depleting. "We need to get out of here!" he yelled, after cutting down another spider. "He's right," said Peyn. "They just keep coming at us. There's a cave I saw a few meters from here, we should take cover there."
"Agreed," replied Alice.
They entered the cave, which was absent of all light. George pulled out a torch, lit it, and set it on the wall. He put down his sleeping bag, and pulled up a rock to sit on. he threw some sticks together and started a fire. Warmth filled the cave, and the glow of light came from the fire. George sat down, and took a deep breath, in and out. The amount of energy that was taken up fighting that mob of monsters was substantially large. Peyn sat down, and asked, "So George, who was the mystery man eho dropped off that note?"
"I would think that it was my father, but I was told that he was killed in the Battle of Velca."
"Was he? I don't remember, except for the fact that he was a merchant that pulled out a diamond sword that day and fought the Foxes. He had 4 arrows in his back, and he still fought on."
"He was a merchant? I was told he was a paladin."
"I don't know. We learned he died after he went to the hospital. HIs death might have been faked."
"Well if he was the one who sent the note to me, then he is dead now, because it said that he wouldn't have placed the note if he wasn't sure he was going to die."
"I guess we'll never know," said Peyn, yawning and going into his sleeping bag.
George look to see Alice was already asleep. He yawned as well, realizing how tired he was, and decided to take a rest as well. He covered the entrance with dirt, so that he could sleep without getting killed.
Chapter 4: Here be bandits
George woke up from a wonderful dream, where he was a paladin, destroying Foxes, and then the Crusader giving up his rank to him. When he realized he was awake, he remembered that the foxes killed everyone, even the crusader. He sat up, yawned, and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He looked around the cave. He saw Peyn, who had his face in a scowl. "He probably had a nightmare," George muttered to himself. He looked for Alice, and found the cave opening wasn't sealed off anymore. He looked outside, and saw Alice sitting alone on a rock. He went to join her, to see if she was okay. He sat down next to her, and asked "Are you okay?" She nodded, and told George to go back to the cave, so they could eat breakfast together.
George arrived to see Peyn sitting up. He looked to the cave entrance to see George and Alice ducking below the ceiling to get into the cave. "There you are," he said. "I wanted to tell you something. I had a dream last night. I was a child again, and my mother was telling me a story about an undead creature she called a zombie. That was before it appeared and killed me. I guess that's what they were."
"Probably," Replied George. "We should keep moving if we want to catch up to the townies."
So after a short breakfast, they headed out into the wilderness. They walked for hours following the tracks left behind by the townspeople ahead of them. The air was cool, and Alice's hair flowed with the breeze, occasionally getting in George's face. Alice laughed when that happened, and they continued to move forward. Suddenly, they heard a voice from the forest. "Put your weapons on the ground, and put your hands in the air," came the dry, gravelly voice. They did as they were told, and a group of six bandits appeared out of cover of the trees. One grabbed George's coin purse, and dug through it, looking for tae. Another bandit approached Alice with an interest in her. She spat on his face, and he grinned, taking a step back. The bandit leader looked them over, and saw George's sword. It was blue, and he had never seen anything like it before.
The bandit leader was occupied, with his back turned towards the group, examining the sword. Then, and arrow appeared in the back of a bandit archer. He fell face first to the ground, causing the bandits to change their attention to their fallen comrade. Peyn quickly slipped some throwing knives to Alice and George, and then unsheathed a hidden dagger. He turned towards the bandit leader, who was still examining the sword, and used the knife to kill him silently. He then snuck up on the other bandits, who were examining their dead comrade. Peyn snuck up on them as well. He quickly slashed the dagger behind one bandit’s knee, knocking him to the ground. He brought the knife up again to cut down another bandit. George retrieved his sword, and threw a throwing knife at another bandit. The knife lodged itself in his back, causing him to drop like a stone. Another arrow came out of the shadows, impaling itself into another bandit's chest. Peyn looked at the bandit he slashed behind the knee, who was on the ground, clutching his wound. He brought out some leather wrist cuffs, and cuffed his wrists together, but bandaged the bandit's wounds. Two paladin archers stepped out of their hiding place to collect the bandit. "Ah, Peyn!" exclaimed one. "How good to see you!
"You too, Travis," replied Peyn.
George asked, "Do you know where a group of migrating townies went?"
"Yes, we were part of the paladins who guided them out of Blothera. However, we were sent to take care of some thieves around here. Turns out you guys were captured by them," The second paladin said hurriedly. "We can probably catch up to them if we went now. Take the prisoner too, he can be of some use."
The traveling group caught sight of a few pitched tents, and hurried to make it there before night. When the townspeople caught sight of them, they rushed to greet them. They were given a nice new tent, with flooring and furniture. They ate dinner, talked to the townspeople, and went to bed. Peyn was informed that the crusader Dex had died during the fox raid, and that he was the only paladin who knew how to wield a bow and a sword. When Peyn was just about to return to his tent, he saw something move in the shadows. He drew his sword, and followed the man. He crouched down and slowly approached him. He grabbed him, and put the sword blade to his neck, but did not cut.
The mystery man struggled to be free, but Peyn held tight. Then he let out a strange cry, and tried again, unsuccessfully, to break free. Peyn heard a familiar whiz and thunk, but this time, the arrow stuck itself to a block of wood. He took the captive with him, and raced for the tent. "Attackers!' he shouted "Paladins, to arms!" He took the man to his tent, to see who he was. He looked like a bandit, but he had far more scars of battle than an average bandit. "Who are you?" Peyn asked. The man responded with, "Wolf. Dark Wolf Clan." and said no more than that. Peyn tied him to a large stone, and grabbed out his sword. He woke up George.
"Take Alice to someplace safe. We are being attacked," he said.
George woke her up, and they left the tent village, while Peyn closed his eyes, breathed in, and breathed out. He sprinted to and archer, and pulled out two throwing knives with his free hand. He flung them at the opponent archer, who fell to the ground. Took his sword, and turned to meet an axe wielding attacker. Peyn parried the attacks, and when the axe warrior swung to the right, Peyn ducked, grabbed the handle of the axe, pushed it towards his opponent, who got hit in the stomach by the handle of his own axe, and then Peyn swung his sword to the left, hitting an unprotected area of armor. He pulled on the axe handle, sending it flying away, and stabbed his sword into his opponent's stomach, who got down on his knees, clutch his wound, and finally collapsed on the ground.
Peyn sheathed his sword, and drew his bow. He applied posion to his arrow, and shot it. The targeted archer was hit in the neck, and died instantly. Peyn shot more targets, put his bow back, and was about to turn back to the tent city, when an arrow flew past where his head used to be. He drew two knives, and faced his adversary, who put away his bow, and drew a sword. The enemy cut at Peyn many times, but each was parried or dodged. Peyn jumped into the air, vaulting himself over his opponent, and threw both knives at him, before drawing his own sword. Peyn lashed out with uppercuts, stabs, slashes, and downward cuts, each met by a parry. He swung once more, waiting for the parry. When it happened, he spun around, lashing out a kick from his left leg, striking his opponent in the face.
Peyn's opponent's grunted from the blow, and he pulled out a dagger. He lashed out with both sword and dagger at Peyn, who took steps back. Peyn gripped his sword with both hands, and swung downwards, waiting for his opponent to block. When he did, Peyn let one hand go of the sword, and with it, he snatched his own dagger, and attempted to stab his opponent, but was blocked by a kick, sending the dagger flying out of his hands. The enemy yelled, "Wolves! To me!" Peyn didn't know who the wolves were, but they seemed familiar. Peyn backed away from the wolf he was fighting, who seemed to be the leader. He grabbed a potion of strength, drank it, and threw the empty bottle at the enemies who were arriving to assist their leader.
Peyn was about to strike, when a paladin swordsman flew over his head, and landed on the ground in front of them. He swung his sword in a wide arc, trying to injure as many wolves as he could. He then rushed into the group of wolves, cutting down one after the other, before his sword was knocked out. Even without the sword, he used his fists to punch his opponents, striking each one in the face, and drew his dagger. He confronted the leader, who laughed, and drew his own knife. They circled each other, and finally the paladin swung first, allowing the wolf leader to kick the arm holding the weapon, and then threw his knife in his stomach. The paladin fell, but before the wolf leader could actually kill him, Peyn interfered, swinging his sword at the wolf's leg, causing him to stumble. He turned, and both Peyn and the wolf stared each other in the eye, before the wolf leader retreated to the forest. They both knew they would meet again.
Chapter 5: Anovia
Peyn returned to the tents, exhausted, and sat down. The paladins won the fight against the wolves, but both sides had lost many lives. Peyn went to the medical tent to see who the paladin was that had been injured assisting Peyn. When Peyn saw him in the light, he recognized him at once. It was Paul, a young paladin, who had a lot of talent. Peyn trained him, four months ago, and was glad to see that he didn't die in Blothera. George returned to the city, and looked at the map he had recovered. Anovia was only five kilometers away.
The townspeople set off, this time without stopping, and without any distractions. In less than an hour, they managed to reach their destination. The townspeople made tents and unpacked, and went to their everyday jobs. The woodcutters cut wood, and the miners mined for iron and diamonds. They built a city, and houses, in just two weeks. They elected a duke of the town, called Getimunth, and the duke was named Tompa. Peyn was elected crusader of the townspeople, and he and the paladins built a barracks inside of the town. The townspeople were returning back to their normal peaceful lives.
It wouldn't last long.
People began to have political arguments, riots broke out in the streets, and people wanted to be leader of the town. The paladins quickly escorted them out of the town of Getimunth, and they decided to make their own town. It became clear pretty quickly that a war would break out. Even the paladins became split, and The War of Anovia began. They had only been in Anovia for two months, and war broke out already. Peyn decided to train George, since he had the potential to be a great paladin
George woke up. It was early in the morning, and today he had training. He grabbed his pack and set off to the training area. When he arrived no one was there. He slowly stepped forward, and he was caught in a headlock from behind. George quickly ducked down and pulled the arm with him, sending Peyn to the ground. "Good job," he said. "You passed the first test I've given you, reaction timing."
George grinned, and then approached the practice dummy. He practiced left swings, right swings, downward cuts, and the one that he has the most trouble with, uppercuts. He practiced all these, until he almost reached perfection. He tried hard to pass the most difficult acrobatic obstacles, like jumping four meters. He learned how to climb, to vault, and to leap large distances. He was soon able to jump his way from one end of the city to the next, without falling off the roof. He was able to leap into the air, spin in midair, and throw knives right into the target's bull's-eye. He learned how to sprint faster, and run longer distances. He could fist fight as well as Paul could. His skill with a sword improved, and he was able to decapitate five practice dummies by swinging his sword in a wide arc. He could dual wield a sword and a knife, and succeed at taking out targets with them.
After a week of training, George had become a paladin, one of the most skilled ones too. George was very excited to finally become the person he wanted to be, a paladin warrior, and a good one at that. What he didn't expect was the long hours of guard duty. He sat there, bored, all day, every day. Then one day, on guard duty, a gigantic ball of flame slammed down in the city. Every paladin circled the wall, but it was George who saw the catapult. They were being raided.
George sounded the alarm, and he rushed outside the gates to meet the opposition. He took cover behind a tree, and was joined by Peyn and some more paladins. "I'll provide a distraction," he whispered. "You have to ambush them from the left side."
George nodded, and he took three paladin swordsmen with him. They approached the enemies, who were part of the Isamoth kingdom. George saw Peyn and a few other paladins shooting arrows at them, and the enemy paladins moved in on them. George nodded, and the four paladins shot forward, swords in hand, attacking their opponents. George cut down an Isamoth soldier, and lashed out a kick to another one. He swung downward, killing another enemy, then quickly pulled out his sword from the body, to parry incoming attacks.
Paul was taking out enemies with his sword and his fist, breaking soldiers noses before cutting them down. He slammed his shoulder into the back of another enemy, sending him to the ground. He looked to his right to see Peyn and the other paladins rush out from the trees with their swords. He sheathed his sword and pulled out the mace he had on him, and the skull crushing began.
Peyn shot down another enemy, and signaled for the paladins to rush out of the trees to take out the enemies, and they nodded. They rushed forward, swords in hand, and plunged into enemy lines. Peyn crouched in the crowd, and pulled out his dagger. He began to cut and stab the legs of his opponents, making them fall. He then jumped back and drew his sword. He rammed the butt of his sword onto an injured enemy's helmet, knocking him out. He cut down another enemy and advanced. He saw George in the crowd, taking out more and more Isamoth soldiers. Peyn also saw the Isamoth general approaching him.
Geroge looked to his right to see a well-armed man, with a scar running down his face approaching him. He swung at him, only to find that he was parried. George attacked more and more, each time getting blocked or parried. The general swung at George, and he attempted to parry it, but the man's swing was hard, and he had a hard time parrying. He pulled out his knife and swung his sword while he tried to cut and stab with the dagger. The general jumped over the knife swings and dodged the sword cuts. He jumped up, span in midair, and landed a hard kick to George's chest, breaking one of his ribs. George fell to the ground, but got back up. He lost his dagger, but he still had his sword. He gripped it with two hands and swung down hard. The general deflected it and swung back, causing George to parry it and lose his sword. He lashed out with punches and kicks, and managed to land a few blows on the general.
George dodged a sword swing, and picked up his sword. He tightened his grip, causing a glow to come out of the diamond sword. "Of course!" he thought "It has a fire enchantment on it." George threw a knife at the general's leg, and the knife impaled itself into the armor, and blood began to flow out of the injury. The Isamoth general was distracted for just a moment, which was all George needed. He swung the sword, cutting the chestplate, and the general screamed in pain, as the sword glowed with great energy. The fire leaped from the base of the sword to the tip, and the general caught fire. Because he was wearing iron armor, he was going to cook in his armor. George however, couldn't stand seeing anyone is such great pain, and put the general out of his misery by stabbing him straight in the heart with the dagger.
George was about to turn and walk back to the castle when an opponent tackled him to the ground. He punched George in the face repetitively, and finally pulled out a dagger. He cut George's forehead, and blood began to flow out. He was about to stab him to finish him off, but a figure in midair landed on top of the soldier, and slammed his head into the ground. He looked up and growled, but was met with a punch to the face. Then Peyn appeared from the crowd, and cut down George's would-be killer. George looked to see who had saved him, and it turned out to be Alice. She gave him a smile, and helped him up. He returned the smile, and they looked to see the Isamoth soldiers retreating. The paladins of Getimunth let out a victory cry, and happily returned to the city.
When they got back, they all had a celebration. Everyone was cheerful and talking, while others mourned the death of the paladins who died protecting the city. Peyn went to the tavern to join the other paladins who were drinking. George went to his house, cleaned his sword and armor, and put it away. He was about to go to bed when he heard a knock at the door. It was Alice. "Thanks for saving me back there, Alice," he said. She nodded, and gave him a hug, before going back to her house. George went to bed with the thought, "Where did the wolves go?" before drifting into sleep.