Allirynn Cirilia Asphodel was not a boastful man. He spoke about his deeds and accomplishments with such confidence and bravado that his friends and acquaintances thought he exaggerated and embellished the tales. He didn't try to correct them after the first few times he tried, because they thought he was trying to fake being humble, and that didn't sit right with him at all. Even when he tried to tone down the story of his last adventure before meeting them, a few of them still believed he was making some of it up.

“I'm telling you, it was as big as me and had six inch claws!” Allirynn said to the dwarf that sat across the carriage from him.

“Ha ha! No one's as big as you, Al!” The dwarf laughed a deep laugh and turned to the woman next to him. “Have you ever seen a lion that was six feet and two inches tall?”

“Not from the front.” The woman said, and everyone laughed, even Allirynn.

Allirynn and his friends had set out from their homelands in search of adventure. His homeland, the Fourth Cruneian Kingdom, was by far the largest and most dangerous of the kingdoms. It had harsh deserts, snow capped mountains, and canyons so wide that it took weeks to cross them. It also had the harshest and best mix of training grounds that any fighter worth their mettle would kill to use.

Sometimes you had to kill to use them.

Allirynn surely had. Monsters of every type seemed to find him wherever he went, and after doing it for so many years, he now went to new places and expected to meet new monsters to fight. He was always disappointed when they sometimes didn't appear and he was left wanting. His body was lean and well muscled, fully used to the rigours of fighting, and his skin was a very dark tan from spending sixteen of his nineteen years of life under the sun's hard rays while inside a small oasis located in the desert of his homeland. It suited his long black hair perfectly and it didn't contrast like the woman's bright blue hair and her snowy white complexion.

Imiryl was from the Third Nogam Kingdom and it shared the snow capped mountains with his kingdom. She wouldn't admit what her race was, and no one ever asked. All six people in the carriage were friends that had met while training their various skills and no one questioned anyone about who they really were or their motives. All that mattered to them was getting out on their own and being the best adventuring group to ever exist. Their friendships had formed almost instantly and they shared a camaraderie as if they had known each other for all of their lives. That gave them a bond unlike what a lot of other people had with their friends. They were almost closer than family.

They all had their own stories about how they earned or gained their powers and abilities, even Allirynn. His was a little different than most, however. He had trained since he was a young boy in how to fight, ever since the day he found his father's old questing gear. What surprised him was when he tried to pick up the armor, it wouldn't move. When he tried to grab the sword, it was too heavy to lift.

“Those won't work for you, my son.” His mother had said. “This world has divine rules set in place, one of which was assigned to you against my will, and you can never raise a weapon against your fellow man.” She had said, her voice full of sadness, then she stood up straight and her eyes had gleamed with authority. “Do not worry about such things. Now that you know, I will teach you the ways to fight without using a weapon.”

At the time he didn't understand what she meant, then she started to train him. Day and night, without end, she taught him everything he would ever need to know about hand-to-hand combat. She was relentless that he get everything right, so that the only people he hurt were the ones he was attacking and not himself. When he was old enough, she taught him about mana, and his entire world view changed.

His mother taught him how to strengthen himself and his body using it, and various other things that would help him survive. All the scary things he had seen creeping around the desert that had caused him to remain inside their oasis for the first ten years of his life, became his sparring partners. He actually didn't want to do that; but, his mother had insisted.

“They are nature's way of challenging you.” She had said. “If you cannot defeat a mindless beast at your age, what chance do you have against an opponent that can think?”

Allirynn had stared at his mother for several minutes after that, and he was suddenly struck with how beautiful she was. Her grace and poise, even while showing him some fairly undignified fighting stances and techniques, had always impressed him. Now it had given his young mind a question.

“Mother, why do we live alone?”

She opened her mouth to give the obvious answer, then she walked over to sit down at the table and pat her knee. Allirynn hadn't hesitated, even though he was ten and nearly as tall as her, and had climbed up onto her lap and hugged her tightly. She chuckled and hugged him back.

“When I met your father, he was just another adventurer. A silver coin for a dozen. Nothing particularly special.” She had said. “Then one day, he showed me a glimpse of his potential and it surprised me.”

Allirynn hadn't heard this particular story before, so he had listened intently.

“I followed him more and more, watched what he did and how he did it, and he intrigued me. I hadn't thought that any man would have gotten my attention at all, let alone an adventurer.” She smiled as she thought about him. “It wasn't until he and his group of friends managed to defeat a menace unlike any to have come before, that I truly saw him for who he was.”

“Who was that?” Allirynn asked.

“I saw him as the man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.” She had said. “So, after putting all of my affairs in order, I gave up everything that I was and became his wife. He, being the man that he was, also gave up everything that he was and became my husband. We settled here to build our lives together, far away from everyone and everything. Several years later, you arrived to brighten our lives.”

She smiled happily for only a second, then her face became sad.

“A year later, word came that a new menace threatened the world and the man that he used to be reemerged. He couldn't refuse the impassioned pleas for help, so he shed his husband and father roles to go and face the new threat.” She sighed and hugged Allirynn tightly. “He never returned.”

Allirynn had kissed his mother on the cheek to catch the tear that had escaped her eye. He swore to her that day that he would become the best weaponless fighter in the world. She had taken him at his word and increased her training regimen to prepare him for that. She was tough, overbearing, and did everything she could to grind him into paste... and yet... he loved her with all his heart and would never speak up against her, or tell her she was being too tough, or that he was worried that he would break under her tutelage.

Allirynn kept his harsh words to himself, because he knew that his mother loved him more than anything and that she was only doing this to protect him by teaching him to protect himself. On his sixteenth birthday, she had stopped him from going outside to start his daily regimen and brought him into the kitchen. She had prepared a small meal with the best ingredients they had and sat him at the table.

“What is all this?” Allirynn had asked.

“You have learned a-all that I can teach y-you.” His mother had said, her voice wavered slightly. “You are of age now, and as is your right, you can choose what to do with your life from here on out.”

Allirynn stared at her with wide eyes, because he had been completely unprepared for the choice.

“What will you choose to do?” She had asked. With nothing else in his head except his promise to be the best fighter in the world, which was the point of all the training, and that's what he told her. Without a word, his mother left the kitchen and gathered his things and put them into a bag of holding. She came back to the kitchen and Allirynn hadn't started eating yet. She sat with him and made him eat.

When he was done, she passed him a coin pouch full of gold, the bag of holding, and led him to the door of their little house. Allirynn stared at her and didn't know what to say, since she was clearly kicking him out.

“You need to train on your own from now on.” She had said, her words harsh and her tone soft. “Go to the snow capped mountains to the east. Harden your body against the elements. Use the techniques I have taught you. Become that which you desire most.”

“M-mother, I...”

“I will watch over you when I can.” She had said and slowly closed the door on him, then she whispered. “Do not disappoint me... again.”

“Mother, I...”

“I love you, too.” She said through the door. “Now you must go. The mountains won't get any closer if you just stand there.”

Allirynn had put his hand on the door for a moment, stepped back a few steps to look at the small and humble house, then turned away and went east like his mother told him to do. He didn't hear the restrained sobs that his mother tried to hide on the other side of the door as her tears fell to the floor like rain.

Allirynn had found Imiryl in the mountains while she practised her ice elemental magic. After they trained for several months together and explored the mountains, they eventually found a cave. Inside that cave was a hefty door and when they knocked, a dwarf wearing a warhammer as big as him on his back greeted them. They told him their tales of training, and the dwarf readily agreed that it was a good idea and showed them his own training.

Of course, this led them to a new area and they fought a nest of goblins. One of the prisoners they had caught was a female elf and the budding group of adventurers freed her. She had been overwhelmed and captured, her weapons and armor stolen, and they were preparing to cook her. She was grateful to the group and joined them before they could ask her to come along.

The dwarf had laughed at her inviting herself along, and Imiryl pointed out that he pretty much just came along on his own, too. That made them all laugh and they left the mountain range to go to the nearest town for supplies. With gold to spend, Allirynn gave the elf new leather armor and a sword. It wasn't the best that money could buy, considering that what was available wasn't the best; but, it was much better than nothing and they moved on.

Allirynn only knew that he needed to harden his body against the elements, so over the next year, they trained and asked around, and eventually found a mage that specialized in fire magic and its associated spells. They went to a cleared area where fire wouldn't do any damage to the surrounding area, and Allirynn and the man battled and trained at the same time. They both benefited from this, since the mage was getting better control of his spells and Allirynn was adapting to the intense heat from both the fire and occasional lava pit that opened up.

Needless to say, the man joined the party to continue the training and they moved on. It was also beneficial for Imiryl, since she had no experience with having to deal with fire in any capacity, and the two hit it off immediately. They continued to travel across the kingdoms until they reached the Second Choutia Kingdom. There they discovered that an evil sect of snake people had taken over one of the towns and were converting the villagers into lamias, with the upper body of a human and the lower body of a snake.

Allirynn couldn't stand by and let such atrocities happen, so he led his group of adventurers on a quest to clean out the snake people. It was a surprisingly long quest, since the snake people were so resilient and had already converted half of the town to their cause. Everyone felt bad about having to deal with the converted townspeople and in most cases they had to kill them. Only a few were reluctant to fight, and those must have only just been converted and hadn't been brainwashed yet.

One woman didn't even have a weapon when they found her and she tried to scream and slither away from them. She was easily caught in ice and shivered as her body temperature dropped. When she saw she couldn't escape, she readily agreed to take them to the main nest if they agreed to let her go afterwards. Surprisingly, she led them to an old abandoned farmhouse and pointed out the dozen snake people guarding it.

“Ssshe'sss in there.” The lamia hissed.

“Lass, you better not be telling us there's a queen in there.” The dwarf said, and she nodded. “By the seven hells, we can't face a creature like that!”

Allirynn put a hand on his shoulder. “Don't worry, my friend. We just need to do this in order.”

“What order?”

“We take out the guards as silently as possible. We break open a couple of windows and dump in all of our lantern oils, and Jarcon blows it all to hell with his highest tier fireball spell.”

“We're not going to go in there and fight them all?” The female elf asked, clearly disappointed.

“Not until the fire dies down.” Allirynn said with a smile.

“I'm in!” The dwarf exclaimed. “Burn them all!”

Imiryl laughed. “I'll take out the guards in the back of the house.”

“Let's move out.” Allirynn said.

“You people are crazy.” The lamia said as she followed them, then she smiled. “I like you.”

That made everyone laugh and they executed the plan flawlessly. The guards were taken out easily and Imiryl froze the windows so that they wouldn't make a lot of sound when they broke. The oil was tossed in and they all ran away as Jarcon aimed carefully into one of the windows and cast his spell.

BOOOOM!

Jarcon was thrown backwards from the blast, even though he was pretty far away already. Allirynn ran over and stood between him and the intense heat from the fiery inferno that the old house had become, and the mage took out a scroll. Dozens of screams and yells came from the house as it burned, and Jarcon read the scroll in a whisper. He was covered in a blue glow for a moment and then collapsed, unconscious. Allirynn picked him up and carried him over to where the others were.

“What did he do?” Imiryl asked as Allirynn tucked the mage onto her lap and she hugged him.

“Probably a restoration spell that used up the rest of his mana.” Allirynn said. “He should be fine in the morning.”

“Besides a nasty headache!” The dwarf said and laughed. “Now what do we do? The screaming has stopped.”

“I've got it.” Imiryl said and cast a spell that sent a foot thick layer of snow over the whole house. It put the fire out, surprisingly, then the entire house collapsed under the weight. “Oops.”

“Bwahahaha!” The dwarf laughed. “Nice going! If there was anything left alive in there, you definitely finished it off.”

“Let's find out.” Allirynn said and the dwarf stopped laughing.

“You're serious.” The dwarf said, and everyone else laughed. “Ah, dammit.” He said and sulked as he hung his head and walked towards the remains of the house, which made everyone laugh harder.

They cleared the house and found the queen snake was dead, crushed by the bricks from the collapsed chimney, as the dwarf had speculated, and the group of adventurers were happy they had completed one of the largest quests that any of them had ever undertaken.

“Would you mind if I joined you on your journey?” The lamia asked. “The town'sss been gutted and I don't have any family left.” She said. “I don't think sssomeone like me is going to fit in well anywhere, not looking like thisss.”

“Well, I can see how having a snake around would unnerve some people.” The female elf said and looked right at the dwarf.

“Hey, I'm not prejudiced against them or anything.” The dwarf said. “I just hate the thought that they can move around without arms and legs.”

“Well, I have arms.” The lamia said and waved at him. “Does that mean you only half-hate me?”

The dwarf opened his mouth to respond, then smiled. “Yes, I guess it does.”

“We'd have to take you with us to try and find you somewhere to go anyway.” Allirynn said. “Like you say, you can't stay here, not after all of this.”

The lamia looked at their faces and didn't see any open rejection, so she nodded.

That had been almost a year ago, and they had recently heard word that the capital of the First Sothen Kingdom had need of adventurers. Rather than take the long trip on foot, Allirynn hired a carriage to take them. It was very expensive, especially for taking them across an entire country; but, he didn't mind. He was with his close friends and they had travelled far and wide. They had been on adventures that only legends spoke of, so he knew that they deserved to ride in comfort this one time.

They were about a third of the way towards the capital city when they carriage was plunged into darkness. The carriage quickly rolled to a stop as the sound of both horses neighing in pain started, then the sounds were cut off.

“What's going on?” Imiryl asked. “I can't see anything!”

“My fire isn't breaking through it.” Jarcon said. “I can feel it, so it's still working and this isn't an anti-magic field.”

“We've all just been blinded for a reason!” Allirynn exclaimed and activated his mana enhancements to make his body strong. “We need to get out of the carriage! Right now!”

Someone opened the door and they scrambled out of the carriage in the darkness. Someone fell with a short yelp and Allirynn kicked them as he tried to go to them and help.

“AGHH!!” The lamia yelled as Allirynn's foot hit something very soft. He stopped moving and bent down to pick her up.

“I'm sorry, Siada.” Allirynn said and held her in a princess carry, with his arm under her back and his other arm under where her legs used to be and was now half of a snake body. In the next moment, there was a resounding crash and several of them felt debris hit them from behind and Allirynn was relieved they had all made it out.

“I'm the one that'sss sssorry, Allirynn.” Siada said and tucked her head into his neck to cuddle.

“Now's not the time for... ARGH!” Allirynn yelled as he felt fangs enter his neck and immediately felt a burning sensation that spread out from the bite to the rest of his body in only moments. “Wh-what... what is...”

“Lamia venom is pretty toxic.” A man's voice said in the darkness. “It's especially debilitating to people who have trained their bodies to focus mana, almost as if the mana itself becomes poisoned.”

Allirynn dropped to his knees and Siada let him go and slithered away. “Wh-why? Why?” He asked, as confusion and pain filled his thoughts.

“She was ordered to.” The man said, his voice full of satisfaction.

“Didn't... hear...”

“You didn't know that lamias are also telepaths?” The man asked, amused. “You poor besotted fool.”

“No... not... wouldn't betray...”

The man laughed as the darkness started to fade. “You know nothing, boy.”

Allirynn looked up at a dark cloaked man with a slightly mangled face, then there was two of him, then there was one again. “What... magic...”

“He's losing it already.” A harsh woman's voice said. “Pitiful.”

Allirynn turned his head to look at her and shock went through him as he saw an elf that looked like the one they had rescued pull a blood red arrow out of Imiryl's neck. Imiryl collapsed as her neck and face started to turn the same color as the arrow and she gasped for breath.

“N-n-no...” Allirynn said and tried to reach for her, then his immense strength left him and he collapsed to the ground. He felt a foot kick him and the push rolled him over onto his back. A large orc with very dark green skin stood above him and he carried the dwarf's warhammer.

“It's a little heavy; but, I can get used to it.” The orc said and grinned with a mouth full of crooked teeth. “It smashed that little dwarf pretty flat, didn't it?”

No.... no, it... it can't be. Allirynn thought. Even his mind was becoming as sluggish as his body.

“Not going to respond?” The orc asked, then he huffed and looked at the dark cloaked man. “You better give him a stasis potion or he's not going to last.”

“Freezing his body in this state is going to be torture, isn't it?” The man asked and the orc nodded. “Wonderful.” The man said and took a small purple potion out of his bag of holding and knelt by Allirynn with a huge crooked smile. “Drink this up and you'll be all better.”

Allirynn tried to turn his head and only managed to move an inch, and the man chuckled.

“Forcefully it is.” The man's mangled face grinned and he shoved two fingers into Allirynn's mouth to make him gag. Allirynn coughed and the man poured the potion in and held a hand over his nose and mouth. With no other choice, Allirynn swallowed the potion and felt it spread through his body. The burning sensation stopped pulsing and stayed at a steady level, and he relaxed.

“Aw, he stopped twitching.” Another man's voice said. “I like it when they twitch.”

Allirynn didn't have the strength to turn and spit at him like he wanted to.

“Let's take this somewhere more private.” The orc said and slung the warhammer over his shoulder and grabbed Allirynn's arm, then started to walk into the forest beside the road.

“Good idea.” The dark cloaked man said. “We can't stay on the main road like this for very long without being discovered.” He motioned to the lamia. “You're coming, too.”

“No!” Siada said and burst out crying. “You promised to let me go if I turned him over to you!”

“I lied, you idiot.” The man said and grabbed her arm, then dragged her into the trees.

One of the cloaked figures picked up the adventurer that was somehow still alive after being shot with a death arrow, and the others picked up the remaining bodies and followed the dark cloaked man into the woods. At the last moment, one of the figures turned and mumbled a few words and waved his hands. The spell pushed the remains of the carriage and slaughtered horses off to the other side of the road. The figure nodded and followed the others into the forest.