[misc] Legends of the Eternal World #1

[rickhindle at gmail.com]

Legends of the Eternal World
#1 - "Three Destinies"

[cover shows three men standing in a field: the one in the center is
holding a sword, to his left is a shorter man with pointy ears holding
a crossbow, and on the far right is a tall man leaning leisurly on a
long staff]


	The wind swirled and then moved rapidly down the coddlestone streets
of the small city, shaking wooden signs and fabric awnings.  It was
mid-summer in the city of Brunning, and Rynn knew from the wind that a
storm was setting in soon.  It would roll in from the Mariner's Sea,
roll up the valleys that fed the sea, and then would hit the Sunfire
Mountains, depositing rain for a couple of days until it went away.
	Rynn shivered slightly in his sleep, despite the humidity.  He had not
slept well in a week, drifting from either chills or a fever.  The
family doctor had just described the problem as shock from the recent
tragedy that the family had taken.
	Rynn's brother Tomm had been killed by an unknown attacker.  There had
been no signs of trauma externally, but according to the healers, his
bio-energy had been scarred by a mystical being.  In the last week, the
people of Brunning had argued in the pubs, in churchs, and in
storefronts.  Their discussions all centered on what had happened to
young Thom Whisperin.
	The elder Whisperin, Rynn and Tomm's parents, owned a store along the
main thoroughfare in Brunning.  The store catered to travelers who were
making their way from the internal cities in the Aurora provinces out
towards the ports along the Mariner's Sea.  Both of the boys worked
there when they were home.  Normally, Tomm was a buyer for his parents
- heading to cities like Colmon's Bluff and Cherry Point, acquiring
goods for travelers.
	While his older brother had worked for their parents for years, Rynn
had first joined the United Aurora Police Force out of school.  He had
travelled amongst the many disjointed member states of the Aurora
Plains, acting as a protector.  After his military commitment had
ended, Rynn drifted back to Brunning and was acting as a deputy for the
city police.  It was nothing too exciting for Rynn.  It helped him pay
for his room, even though his parents didn't need the money.
	"Rynn," a voice seemed to whisper in Rynn's head.  He thought it
was just the wind and readjusted himself under his blankets.
	The wind seemed to pick up even more.  "Rynn," a voice again
echoed through his head.
	Rynn sat up in his bed, looking around the small room.  "Man, I'm
losing it," he said to himself.
	Just as he was about to lie down again, the small shudders on his
window ripped open with a violent shot.  Rynn jumped at the noise,
calmed himself, and then stood and walked towards the window.  As he
began to close the wooden shudders, a burst of white air shoved him
back towards his bed.
	Instinctivly, Rynn reached behind him, feeling with his hand for the
knife he kept under his pillow.  Brunning did not have the violent
tradition that a number of other cities had; it was Rynn's military
training to keep the short blade available to him at night.
	However, the weapon was not there.
	"Are you looking for this?" the same voice who had invaded his
sleep asked from near the door to his room.
	Rynn whipped around, moving into a defensive crouch.  "Who-" he
stopped his question when he realized that it was a creature speaking
to him.  It was, well, he though, it could be, a female creature.  At
least, it looked like one, he told himself.  She was almost completely
see-through; he could make out her hair, facial features, but was
unsure of any atomical features below the neck.
	"What are you?" Rynn sputtered.  He was beginning to sweat,
despite the wind coming in through the wide open window and his lack of
a shirt.
	"I am the prophetess Canistra," the object informed him. "I am
here to deliver you a chance."
	Rynn relaxed slightly.  "A chance?" he repeated.  "A chance for
what?"
	Canistra just stood there, shimmering as a gust of wind came into the
room.  No sense of emotion crossed her face, "A chance to avenge your
brother's death."
	"Avenge?" Rynn responded.  "Who can I take my revenge out on?"
 He stood, extending to his whole height of just over six feet tall.
He was breathing heavily, anger building within him.  "I don't even
know who killed my brother!"
	"Go to Sol Roftus, in the province of Sol Equi," Canistra
instructed him.
	"Sol Roftus?" Rynn slumped slightly.  "What's in Sol Roftus?  My
brother was killed here.  Here in Brunning.  Not in Sol Roftus.  He's
never been to Sol Roftus."
	Canistra again did not make any movements.  "Are you so sure about
that?"
	"Huh?" Rynn's mind was shuffling through conversations on
overdrive.  He couldn't remember is Tomm had ever been to Sol Roftus.
He had spent most of his time in the maritime provinces, not north of
the Sunfire Mountains.
	"Go to Sol Roftus, to the Hall of Kings.  There, you will meet the
others." Canistra continued to issue instructions.
	"The others?" Rynn pondered.  Who else could they be.  Others who
have had their family members killed by an unknown mystical assailant?
	Rynn thought Canistra had just shown a touch of a smile. "Your
destiny will begin unfolding itself soon, Rynn Whisperin.  Your
brother's death was just the first step towards you fulfilling it."
	"Wait-" before Rynn could respond to Canistra, her image
disappeared and rocketed past him, closing the shudders as she escaped.
	Rynn stood and rushed towards the window, pulling open the shudders
and leaning halfway out the window, trying to find Canistra's shape, or
anything like the white burst from five minutes earlier.  But nothing.
	He was soaked in sweat.  His breathing was becoming ragged.  He was
exhausted.  His mind was whirling at a million thoughts a minute.  All
he could think about was his brother, lying there on the white stone
altar at the church.
	Tears swelled in Rynn's eyes as he looked at the knife lying on his
bed.  Canistra had left it behind.  Everything was happening so
quickly.  His mind was set, he knew it.  He had to go to Sol Roftus.
To the Hall of Kings.  And to meet his destiny.
	Moving quickly, Rynn changed into pants and a shirt.  He stared around
his bedroom as he sheathed his knife.  He didn't know if he would ever
return here.  This was home.  The home he had shared with Tomm.  It was
time.

	He had left the Elven cities on the far side of the Ringoran River,
and moved up the Grand Northern Highway from it's southern end in
Simisily.  The Grand Northern drove up through the center of the
Auroran highlands, past the headwaters of the Three Kings Rivers, ran
alongside the upper part of the Sartan Mountains before crossing over
the the wide expanses of the Heracles River.  From there, it left the
Auroran provinces before entering the mountainous regions of Pelan-ve,
Saronia, Taran-ve and Codan-ve.  It finally ended in the icy capital of
Phanteus.
	It was a long trip, at least five thousand miles in length, from
Simisily to Phanteus.  But he was glad he did not have to make the
entire voyage.  Instead, he sat back in the faux-luxury of the massive
carriage train bearing north towards Sol Roftus.  Steam wafted past his
room, as he carefully adjusted the wide brimmed hat perched on top of
his head.
	The idea was to carefully disguise the fact that he was of Elfin
blood, not that it was entirely necessary.  There was currently talk
all across the Auroran provinces of reuniting the dozen and a half
factions and creating a unified Aurora.  It had not happened for nearly
three centuries.  But with talk of an impending Saronian invasion, the
border provinces did not want to fight alone.
	It made sense to Anders, but that was of no surprise to anyone who
knew him.  Before two nights ago, Anders had been a young lawyer who
had already been approached about becoming a political figurehead, a
possible ambassador to a united Aurora.
	It had been Canistra who had interupted his sleep.  She had explained
to him that his destiny could be met by going to Sol Roftus.  "You
have a chance to lead your people to greatness," he remembers
Canistra saying, eerily.  "Now you must go forth and meet your
destiny."
	He had tied up his loose ends as quickly as possible, telling his
beautiful fiancee Mirabeth that he would be home as quickly as
possible.  "Wild horse wouldn't keep me away from you," Anders had
told her, tears flowing freely from her eyes as he she buried her head
into his chest.
	Anders sighed and relaxed, staring out the window.  His eyes were not
locking onto any object in particular.  He thought he could make out
the Sunfire Mountains in the distance.  He had climbed the Sunfires
once, when he was younger.  His father had once spent a year on
assignment as an ambassador from the Elves to the merchant cities in
southeastern part of Aurora.
	He remembered the sun burning them as they moved up the craggy rock
cliffs.  The sky seemed always to be cloudless during the day.  The
night, Anders remembered, had always been filled with massive
thunderstorms rolling in from the seas.
	But that had been years ago.  His father had passed away at a rather
young age for elves - 72 years.  Anders himself was only 36, which
was barely past the age when Elfin youths had graduated from
university.  Now, Anders was moving towards his own destiny.
	Anders' eyes began to close slowly as he drifted towards sleep.  He
heard the snap of wood and a woman's scream.  Bolting upright, Anders
moved towards the door of his cabin.  Before opening the door, he
grabbed a small crossbow and tucked it under the long overcoat he was
wearing.
	Stepping into the cooridor, Anders was nearly pushed back into his
room by people rushing past him.  The crowd thinned out, and Anders
moved off in the direction they had come from.  Peeking around corners,
Anders moved quickly and silently through the cooridor until he came to
the next carriage in front of him.  Slowly he opened the door and
walked into chaos.
	A massive man, his skin scaled like a lizard's, was standing over a
young woman.  Her white dressed was already stained by blood, and
Anders could see why.  A young man was lying next to her; he was
dressed extremely well, except for the large red gash across his chest
and stomach.
	The woman's mouth was open, but she was emitting no noise.
	"Let her go!" a voice shouted from the other side of the cabin.
There was a tall young man standing there, a violent looking knife in
his right hand.  Anders quickly studied him - he was wearing
khaki-colored pants and an untupped, short sleeved yellow shirt.  His
brown hair was being blown around by the wind flying in the shattered
windows of the carriage as the train hurtled forward.
	The lizard-skinned man grunted and turned towards the speaker.  He
slowly walked towards the speaker, giving Anders the chance to move
forward and grab ahold of the woman.  She looked at him, her eyes wide.
 He knew she was in shock as he dragged her back towards safety.
	The lizard man turned and saw Anders moving the woman back.  He turned
and walked forward, growling menacingly.  Anders was able to see the
monster's face.  It was human shaped, but had scales similar to the
rest of his skin.  His nose was flat, and large teeth protruded from
the mounth, making it unable to close its mouth.

	Rynn watched as the short, long-haired man in the hat and trench coat
pull the woman away and decided to try something.  He ran forward, it
only took a few steps for his legs to get the necessary momentum behind
him.  His legs propelled him into the hair, the knife in his right hand
extended above his head.
	All of a sudden, the monster turned around and whipped his left hand
out.  It his Rynn in the side, slamming his against the wall of the
carriage.
	A number of things snapped.  Rynn was sure his ribs were a couple of
the snapping noises.  He struggled to get to his feet when the monster
made a terrible sound.  Rynn looked over and saw a crossbow bolt
embedded in the monster's right eye.  The monster reached up for it,
trying to pull it out.
	Rynn saw another opening, and picked up a chunk of a broken table.  He
tossed it at the monster, trying to draw his attention.  The monster
turned and angrily charged at Rynn.  Blood was pouring from the damaged
eye, where the bolt was still sticking out.
	Just before the monster reached him, Rynn jumped to the side, landing
painfully on a stack of broken wood and glass.  The monster could not
stop his forward momentum, crashing through the side of the carriage
and disappearing in the ground below.
	Rynn struggled again to his feet, trying to fill his lungs with air.
His sides shot through with pain everytime he breathed.  "Definitely
a couple ribs," he muttered to himself as he looked over to the short
man.
	His hat was now off.  He was an Elf.  "Thanks for the help, I
appreciate it," Rynn said to the Elf.
	The elf simply nodded as he looked over the woman.  A door suddenly
opened behind Rynn.  The conductor walked in, followed by a man in a
very expensive suite.  "What happened?" the conductor demanded of
Rynn and Anders.
	"A Hyleon," Rynn responded.  He picked up a chair and sat down in
it, his left arm holding his midsection.
	"A Hyleon, here?" the conductor replied.  Hyleon were usually from
the northern reaches of the continent, found usually in Taran-ve and
parts of Saronia.
	Rynn grunted as the well-dressed man moved past him and knelt next to
woman alongside Anders.
	"Who is that girl?" Rynn asked the conductor.
	"Marcia van Helster, heir to the throne of Sol Roftus," the
conductor stated grimly.  "The gentleman is...sorry, was, her
fiancee, Charles Trent."
	Anders was now standing up, his hand in his left hand, the crossbow
still in his right.  He looked over to Rynn and nodded again, then
turned around and walked back towards his cabin.

	Sol Roftus was a city of massive towers, huge boulevards, and white
stone buildings.  The majority of the city sat amongst the hills
looking over the headwaters of the rivers of the Three Kings -
Tarvus, Nikolai, and Leopold.  Boats moved along the piers, carrying
going down to the various parts of the eastern part of the provinces.
	The Grand Northern Highway went through the center of the city, giving
weary travellers the ability to rest before moving north.  Sol Roftus
was also the center of politics in the Auroran provinces.  When the
unified Auroran states disbanded, they had left beind a massive
structure to remember when they had been united.
	The Hall of Kings was set near the buildings that housed the local
governmental offices.  Like the rest of the city, the Hall of Kings was
constructed in white stone, which seemed to be almost pale due to the
sun's constant beating on the structure.
	Rynn had given himself no time to study the vast architectural beauty
of the city.  Instead, he had spent most of his time after getting off
the train at the hospital.  He had ended up with three broken ribs,
along with a number of cuts and bruises from the run in with the
Hyleon.
	Now he was standing in the Hall of Kings, with the massive statues of
Auroran leaders looking down on him.  He could see two other people in
the center of the room, standing by the side of a fountain.
	Rynn strode forward, noticing a glimmering shape about the fountain.
Initially, he thought it was an effect of the sunlight and the
fountain.  Once he got closer, Rynn realized that it wasn't an effect;
it was Canistra.
	"So, our last destiny-seeker has arrived," Canistra stated without
turning and looking at Rynn.
	"Huh?" Rynn was shocked she could see him.  He looked at the other
two standing there.  One was the Elf from the train.  The other was a
young man with slightly long hair, tied in a pony tail.  He was well
dressed, wearing a long tunic in a green color, edged in gold.
	"This, gentlemen, is Rynn Whisperin," Canistra introduced him to
the others.  "Rynn, this is Anders Goldenspoke, and Tarshan
In-Quaihd."
	"Could you just tell us why we're here?" Tarshan asked
impatiently.  Rynn wondered what his story was.  He knew Anders, at
least sort of.
	Canistra's face did not change.  "Your destinies are intertwined,"
she explained.  "Each of your possesses a certain skill that will
allow you to succeed.  You cannot hope to succeed alone, or without
one."
	She began to shimmer.  "Don't go anywhere!" Rynn shouted, diving
forward to try and catch Canistra.  Instead, he went right through her,
splashing into the fountain.  He stood up, soaking wet, seething with
anger.
	"I am not leaving yet, Rynn," she said.  "I was just going to
explain, and needed to move slightly."
	Tarshan chuckled, and Rynn shot him a dirty look.
	"You nations are about to enter into a period that can either united
the Auroran states, or tear them apart forever," Canistra continued.
"The General has begun to assemble his forces for an invasion of the
Auroran states.  It was not be a normal army.  Instead, it will be one
of dark sorcery and evil.
	"Your destinies cannot happen unless you are able to defeat the
General."
	Three men looked at each other.  "How can we defeat him?  He's
surrounded by an army of soldiers," Rynn asked.
	"You must use your talents to find him.  It will take help, however.
 Look for others to join you.  But remember, the three of you must
defeat him in order to complete the dynasty."
	Suddenly, she was gone.
	"What the-?" Tarshan shouted.  "Who does she think...I..."
	"We do as she says," Anders said quietly.
	Tarshan looked at him.  "Are you crazy?"
	Anders looked up at him, his eyes locked onto Tarshan's.  "My people
are counting on me," he said plainly.
	Tarshan turned and looked at Rynn.  "And you?"
	Rynn looked from Tarshan to Anders and then back again.  "I have my
reasons.  And if Canistra is right, then my reasons are good enough for
me."
	"Well, what happens if I don't want to go?"
	"You will go!" a voice shouted from behind the three.
	Anders drew his crossbow and pointed it towards the speaker.  The
gentleman was wearing royal robes, his features were aged, his hair
falling out.
	"Father, what are you doing here?" Tarshan gasped as they walked
towards the royalty.
	As the two gentlemen walked away, Rynn looked at Anders.  "Who is
that?"
	"Tarshan's father, King Leopold the Eighth," Anders answered.
	Rynn's eyebrowns were raised.  "Tarshan's his son?"  Anders
nodded.
	He could hear the two exchanging curses before Tarshan turned and
stocked back towards Rynn and Anders.  "I'm going with you," he
muttered.
	Anders nodded.  "We leave immediately," he stated.
	Tarshan looked at him.  "Who says you're in charge?" he asked.
"I am the Crown Prince of Sol Roftus."
	The Elf chuckled softly. "I never said I'm in charge, Your
Heiness," he replied with a sarcastic twist on "Heiness".
	"Good," Tarshan responded, "We leave in the morning.  I need a
good night's sleep."
	Rynn coughed.  "I'm with Anders, we leave now."
	Tarshan spun around, his jaw opening.  He had never been talked back
to before.  He closed his jaw quickly.  "Fine, I'll send for a porter
to meet us at the station."
	Anders shook his head.  "We need to leave immediately, without to
much baggage.  It'll be quicker that way."
	"Which way are we headed?" Rynn asked, as Tarshan stalked off
quickly, shouting something about meaning them at the train station.
	Anders looked at Rynn, "Wherever our destinies tell us."

NEXT ISSUE: 
Things heat up as our heroes are "Northbound Ho!"