Humans Are Warriors (Open)

[Orcleous]

"So this is lycia", spoke Orcleous as he looked out over the bleak and poisoned land. He had not been to Lycia in a while. He passed though when he was returning from Nabata and maybe took a few jobs here before, Orcleous could not remember, but he never really looked at the place. It was just a place to pass through and be wary of monsters. Now however it was different. Orcleous had a true purpose for coming here. He was not just here to make coin. As a matter of fact Coin was the last thing on his mind. Orcleous was here to kill, and not humans at that. He wanted to take a shot at the hordes of monsters that had been gathering up in this place. The gargoyle attack on his home town had opened his eyes. He could no longer simply sit by and fight for petty causes and gather up gold coins. There were monsters out there, demons, devils from the blackest pits of the abyss. The beast had been appearing though his life since he left home. From the village of Little Rock to the City of Heroes. Everywhere he turned around the beast of old where showing there fangs and trying to take his life. Now however Orcleous was ready to show his own.

"What was the name of that guild again", spoke Orcleous to himself as he began to walk down the road. The Hero had a idea in his head to join up with this monster slaying guild he had meet back in Bern. He heard that they mainly worked out of Lycia, but that was mostly rumors. There was also another famous monster slaying guild in these lands as well. They were called silver something, Orcleous could not remember. He just knew he was going to need to visit those two guilds before his time in this land ended. At the moment Orcleous had no plans to leave Lyica. He wanted to stay till he found the heart of this pleague and place a silver stake in it. However he was no fool. Eventually he was going to have to return to Bern. He had family there and people who were probably going to need him one day. So as long as he could Orcleous decided he was going to devote himself into ridding the land of the monsters. It was a noble goal and one that needed to be done. To many heroes threw themselves at foolish politics and petty squabbles over land. Nobody was looking at the big picture. They where all trying to carve there own legends out of the political strife. Orcleous however did not need a legend. He did not need a statue or song. He just needed for the monsters to be dead. That would be enough. His legacy would be the fact that gargoyles are not flying down from the mountain and ripping his home town apart, or seeing a coprse of a fallen loved one walking the streets and eating the people you hold dear.

"I wounder if there are any of those buggers around", spoke Orcleous as he began to walk down the road.

[Orcleous]

As Orcleous walked down the road it became clear that things were going on in this area. There where foot prints that Orcleous had never seen before and objects spread all across the road. A few arrows were lodged into the dirt and dried blood stained a few of the stones. Orcleous was not sure what he was facing, or if it was a monster at all. He really did not know much about the creatures besides the fact that he can kill them by stabbing them. For all he knew this could be the cause of bandits and brigands. The foot prints suggested something, but they could have been planted. Just like Bern Lycia was known for the shirtless fools. Bandits loved chaos and the monster threat gave them ore of it than they knew to do with it. The heartless bastards were probably kill travelers on the road and leaving there corpses to the wolves or turn. "Is that how Zombies are made", spoke Orcleous as he rubbed his chin. He knew so little about his new sworn enemy. Drawing his longsword from his scabard Orcleous continued his journey down the road.

With his new found conviction Orcleous had changed the way he fought. He no longer relied on his tower shield. He just started using that recently and got rid of it just as fast. In the battles he fought against the monsters shields were practically useless anyway. Instead he would rely on movement to mediate damage. However Orcleous was not a fool. He knew he could not dodge every blow. So the Hero upgraded his armor. Instead of wearing the leather armor he adopted he switched back to using a thick breastplate. On his left arm he wore the matching gauntlets to his breastplate, but on his lead arm he wore a thicker black armor to protect his arm. Marking on his shoulder was the symbol of the smith who forged it. The man was said to make armor designed to fight against the beast so ORcleous spent the extra coin to buy from him. Movement however was the key so Orcleous had his grieves also custom made. It protected to a great degree, but also gave him mobility to dodge and roll. He wanted to be both agile and protected. Every little bit would help once he got into a fight.

As Orcleous walked down the road he noticed something that was out of place. I the center of the road was a carriage, but without a horse or people. From afar Orcleous could not tell, but once he got up close he could see that the structure was damaged. There were holes inside of the sides of it and scratches all over the cabin. The door was clawed and knocked in to the point that it could not be open. "What in the world happen here", spoke Orcleous as he looked at the carriage. Naturally he drew his sword and began to look around. There was nobody around for miles and from what he could see this was not the work of a human.

[Orcleous]

Looking at the carriage Orcleous became curious to what was on the inside. Blood stained the outer walls and the ground, but from what he could tell the structure had not been opened yet. There were a few holes in it sure, but he could not get a clear look on the inside. At first Orcleous drew his blade and tried to press open the side of the door, but that quickly failed as the steel weapon began to bend before it forced open the jam. Finally deciding that using his blade was not going to work Orcleous drew Xigshaw from his back. The axe, as always, was being temperamental. It hated it when he used other weapons. The darn thing was such a glory hog. Calling upon the power of Xigshaw Orcleous lifted the mighty hammer into the air and brought it down on the edge of the carriage. Its mighty weight and power shattered the door like a axe though cutting wood. The blow sent pits of wood flying off and was accompanied by a frightful scream.

"Scream", spoke Orcleous with surprise as he looked on the inside of the carriage. Hiding in the corner of the wooden structure was a young girl. she had mahogany skin with dark red hair and bright green eyes. The combination was so shocking that it caused Orcleous to pause for a moment. "What is this little girl doing in here", spoke Orcleous as he looked at the young girl for a moment. The young hero then stretched his arm into the carriage to pull the young girl out. Fearful of him she pulled herself tightly together, but once Orcleous hand came closer she lunged forward with her teeth ready to bite down. Quickly Orcleous balled his hand into a fist and the young girl's jaws clamped on the leather forming the gloves on his hand.

"Hey watch it little girl", spoke Orcleous as he tossed Xigshaw onto the ground. He then stuck his other hand in and pulled the young one out of the carriage by force. Naturally she attempted to kick and bite, but the hero grabbed her by the leg and dragged her out. "Calm down or I will be forced to hit you", shouted Orcleous in a stern tone. His voice seemed to bring some reason into the young one as she stopped her wailing. Instead she began to look around her frightfully almost as if she was expecting a ghost.

"Is it gone", she asked as she looked up at the hero. With her no longer failing around like a headless chicken Orcleous released her arm and picked up his magical hammer. As he grabbed hold of it he felt its weight greater than it was the first time he drew it.

"Temperamental hammer", he spoke under his breath as he turned toward the young girl. It was then that Orcleous noticed that her lips were chap. Now that he got a good look at her he could tell she had not drunken anything in quite a while. How long was she in the carriage, thought Orcleous to himself. "I don't know what it is", spoke Orcleous as he looked at the maiden,"But there is nothing here but me." As Orcleous finished talking he reached into his back pocet and pulled out a canteen.

"Here drink this", spoke Orcleous as he handed the maiden the container so she could drink.

[Orcleous]

It soon became clear to Orcleous that this young girl had been hiding in that carage for quite a while. The way she guzzled his water told him that she was thirsty. "Here", spoke Orcleous as he offered her some of his bear jerky. The young maiden gobbled it up like there was no tomorrow. The look in her eyes as she consumed his salted bear told him enough. Now that Orcleous got a look at her he noticed that the young girl was far from little. She was maybe thirteen or fourteen, he could not really tell, but she was not small enough to be called little. She was near fighting age almost two years off from when he first started his adventures.

"So can you tell me what happen", spoke Orcleous as the young girl drunk the last of his water. He was not happy, but he kept that to himself. A sad exspression crossed her face as she began to think back. Then she suddenly stood up and looked around. Orcleous could see the fear in her eyes. After she was sure whatever it was that she was scared of was not there she opened her mouth to speak.

"It was a spider", she spoke as she looked into Orcleous eyes. Her expression showed fear, but Orcleous was not sure if it was fear of the spider or fear that he would not believe her. "A giant spider", she spoke again as she began to move back toward the carriage, but seeing the door removed made her stop in her tracks. "It was taller than a man and bigger than a cow. It ambushed our carriage and at the guards. My father tried to stop it but", she spoke as tears began to pour from her eyes.

Crap, thought Orcleous to himself as he knew what was going to come next, the crying. Sure it was traumatic, but he really did not want to deal with that at the moment. According to her they were attacked by a giant spider. If he had been any other mercenary he may have thought the young lady was crazy, but Orcleous. Well Orcleous got around. He had seen and fought against giant spiders before. He knew the horror she spoke of and he knew it well. "Alright calm down", spoke Orcleous as he grabbed the young girl and stuffed her face into his armor. Hey thanked the heavens that he just had it painted. If not he would have to worry about the tears causing it to rust. "Don't worry I have faced Giant Spiders before", spoke Orcleous. The young girl looked up at him with surprise, but the expression on his face told her he was not kidding.

"Did you win", she asked as she looked up at him. Did I win, thought Orcleous in his mind. Of course I won. If I did not I would not be here, thought the hero, but he kept that to himself. She did not need to hear his smart remarks.

"Yeah I did", spoke Orcleous as he rubbed the back of her head. He then pushed her away picked up his bag. "Now we need to go", spoke Orcleous suddenly. The sudden shift in tone and exspression caught the young girl off guard. "If the spider you talked about was anything like the ones I fought then this is its hunting ground. If we stay here it will come back", spoke Orlceous as he began to walk in the direction he came. "I can't fight the monster and protect you at the same time", spoke the Hero as he grabbed the young maiden's hand and began to drag her away. He did not even wait for her to respond. The next town was about two days or so in the direction Orcleous was going, but the Hero would rather go back then move into unknown territory. The last spiders he fought worked as a team. He was not sure about the one that attacked her carriage, but he was sure they did the same.

[Orcleous]

Worrisome Orcleous took the young girl back to the village he had left from. He hero was going to make plans to head back down that road again later, but the situation with the maiden turned sour. Once they got to the city gates she told him of her past and the fact that she was actually a slave. This only complicated things as the slavers who kidnapped her also took her parents. They all died when the carriage was assaulted by the giant spider. This meant that not only was the young girl alone, but she also had no place to return to. With her in a desperate position and Orcleous not wanting to leave her alone the Hero offered her two choices. She could A, go back to his family farm an prey that his parents let her stay or B, She could come with him and see Lycia. He would teach her how to fight with the sword and train her to be able to defend herself.

The young maiden, not liking the idea of traveling to Bern by herself, Orcleous sure was not going to turn around and go back home, decided that she was going to travel with the hero for a while. After a few questions Orcleous discovered what he practical already knew. The maiden was fifteen years old, just turned it a few weeks ago. A horrible birthday from what Ocleous understood. She was old enough to fight, but, well she knew noting. Orcleous was going to have to teach her how to fight from scratch. Stopping by the weapon store Orcleous bought a silver sword. An arming sword to be exact. Orcleous was going to be facing against the devils from the blackest pit of the underworld. He was going to need silver and besides his new novice was going to need a sword to train with. With the silver sword taking the spot in Orcleous shield the Hero passed his old iron blade down to his new pupil. Rather than wait Orcleous began her training the day she decided to stick with him. There was a lot for her to learn and little time for him to teach her. Orcleous knew he was going to go into danger and he was going to need her to be able to defend herself.

"Alright listen up Xeldine", spoke Orcleous as he looked down at the young maiden. "I am going to tell you something that a warrior once told me."

"Alright", she spoke as she stared into Orcleous eyes. She exspected some high words of wisdom or some secret to battle that would last her till the day she died. However she was not going to get that. She was instead going to get a phrase that almost got Orcleous killed a thousand times in the past, but yet has shaped him more than anything in the his present.

"You only truly live till someone else attempts to take that life from you. In that moment you finally understand what it means to be alive", spoke Orcleous as he looked at the maiden. She gave him a puzzled look. The same he did when the orange haired man spoke it to him. However that was enough. Without saying another world Ocleous walked off and began to continue on his journey. He had chosen a alternative rout than the one he chose beforehand. The threat of a gang of spiders was far to great for him to take alone.

As Orcleous left the city the young girl followed behind. Poor girl, thought Orcleous to himself. She was going to have it rough.

[Thread End]