《The Great legend of Fafnir: The Beginning》Chapter 7: Finish what you've started. (Part 2 of 2)
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Both remain still, but it is clear that the child has been struck by the long sword that runs entirely through him. Is this the end?
They stand there, but one gives way. Gordon falls to his knees. His mouth spills blood, and he speaks as he opens his eyes.
(Gordon) "you knew that you couldn't avoid my attack. So you took it through your arm. Ha-ha-ha! Just magnificent, but I am quite astonished that you still fought back. It seems that your desires are stronger than my ambitions."
Gordon weeps as he lets go of his sword, still stuck to the child's arm, Gordon's arms dangle, and he leans his entire body forward. The young Fafnir does not move. His eyes closed shut, and he stays still, holding the blade that struck Gordon in place with all his might.
(Gordon) "I guess I myself was too weak to see that I'd been heading towards a dead end all my life. I just wanted to avenge you, mother, father and you brother. Is that just too much to ask!?"
("Child wake up! Don't tell me you're resting here. This is not the time to be taking a break. *Tsk* he's losing consciousness. This may be the end for him.")
(Gordon) "It does not matter anymore. I am leaving this world full of worries and misery. Wait for me... Everyone. I'll be there soon to join you. I've missed you all so much..."
With those last words, Gordon breathes his last. His body lies upon the body of the Fafnir, and at last he leaves this world, and from the crowd, whispers can be heard.
"Hey, our leaders dead, what now?"
"Let get out of here, getting this power is not worth it. We'll just end up like him."
Doubts fill their hearts, and they leave running away from the village, unsure about what to do now, but it is clear that they have disbanded. Now no one leads them, and the once great army that filled the other countries with fear, now gone in an instant.
The townspeople all begin to flock outside to see the aftermath of the battle. The scene is horrific. Countless bodies lay on the ground, and this is all the doing of one child, but oddly enough, the one that did all this remains lifeless. Why? Is he sleeping?
Deliah is too petrified to move her body, but her intentions are pure, as she wants to help the child. She musters all the strength she has and runs towards the child. She gets closer, and as she is only inches away. Her tears begin streaming down. She realizes that the child is gone. He has also left this world, but a smile can be seen from his face, but it is clear that from his bloodied face, tears had also streamed down from it. He had tried his best, and he succeeded, but at the cost of his own life.
His last thoughts before Gordon rushed him were, "Will I be able to see you again father?".
Deliah delicately pulls Gordon's body away from the child, next; she pulls the long sword from the boy's body, and cradles the lifeless body of the boy into her arms, weeping for him.
(Deliah) "Thank you for saving us all..."
The townspeople hear what Deliah says, and they all feel this emotion that they had been so distant from. Sadness fills the town. They all realize that the boy did not just act because of any selfish reason. His act also saved the people of this town from something that would inevitably kill them all in the future of it ever succeeded. A tyrant in the making, and a time where conflict and war rages through the land. All ended by one person.
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Deliah approaches the townspeople, still cradling the child in her arms
(Deliah) "everyone, please find where Gordon keeps his prisoners, and let us free them from this regime that has ended. Let us show them the future that this little one have given us."
She brings that child into the a holy small stone built structure, one that has a cross as its symbol. She lays the child on one of the seats, taking a white covered sheet, and covering the child's body with it. She leaves the chapel, closing the doors to it, and let's the young boy's soul rest in peace.
~meanwhile from Marchosias's consciousness~
("I want you to help this child grow. I cannot give you anything in return, but I will offer you my loyalty in my next life.")
(???) ("That sounds very interesting. Very well. Hell has become too stale for my taste, and I long for a journey above ground. Very well, but are you sure you want to do this?")
("He had no doubt nor hesitation when he fought for someone. I am a daemon of loyalty, and he moved my soul because of that. He is worth my powers, but I am afraid that will be impossible.")
(???) ("Very well then, I will see you when we resurrect into our next lives, or rather In a couple if millennia.")
The mysterious man leaves the conversation, and once again it is just the lifeless body of the young Fafnir, and Marchosias, who still occupies it.
("Our journey has been very short. But I am amazed that you could change a daemon into caring for someone. We were heartless creatures made for the suffering of others, but you cared so little for that, and you even treated me normally, you were not scared of my presence. You are destined for greater things in the future. I would like to see that, but if you are to reach that, then you must be alive and well to achieve it. Enough talk. I will give you my life, and in exchange. I want you to fulfill your dreams and quests. Forgive me, but I must leave you as well. I know that you had the same experience with your father. I hope you will forgive me. I enjoyed our adventures together.")
Offering his life to the child. Marchosias bids one last goodbye, and perishes in exchange for a child's destiny to come true, although nothing to extravagant like a pillar of light, or a sound of a siren, but simply gone like dust in the wind.
After a while, he springs up from where he lies. Breathing heavily. He thinks to himself. Where am I? What happened? He tries to stand, but his wounds are still open, and he still has a mark on his left arm, from where he was struck by Gordon's blade
"Argh! I can't move my body. Hey Marchosias. Help me out. Could you do something to help me move?... Marchosias? You there? *sigh* i can't believe you're sleeping whenever I need you."
The door to the chapel opens, and from it emerges Deliah and the townspeople. The young Fafnir notices them, and he turns around. They are terrified to see a corpse rise once again. Some faint, and some are petrified to even make a move
(Deliah) "Wha-what in the heavens name is this?"
As they try to comprehend this somewhat miracle. A girl makes her way through the crowd, rushing towards the young Fafnir, and hugging him as he reaches him.
"Ow-ow-ow, gently! My wounds still hurts. Wait is that you Rhiannon? How did you get here? I thought Sleipnir took you somewhere far away."
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(Rhiannon) "someone brought me back here. He said he was an acquaintance of yours, and that he wanted to meet you."
(Deliah) "wait... You're alive? But how?"
"What do you mean I'm alive? What happened?"
(Deliah) "you were dead a while ago. Lifeless, not breathing."
"Well I do not know about that, I was dreaming, so maybe I was asleep, but I would like to meet this man. Would you please help me up?"
Rhiannon lifts my right arm, and she looks at me with a smile on her face. She speaks while a tear falls from her eyes.
(Rhiannon) "Thank you so much. You saved everyone, including my sister, she is resting as of now, you also drove the bandits away. I don't think I can ever repay you. There are just too many things I have to tell you, but this is not the time and place for it.
"Don't worry about it. It's the least I can do, and besides. I think my body just moved on its own. I didn't need a reason to save you or anyone here."
We finish talking, and I save my strength focusing it on walking. My body slightly limping from the weakness, and exhaustion. We approach the inn, and oddly enough. Women fill the inn, and some are outside, struggling to get in.
Deliah shoos the women away, opening a way for us to enter. The doors open and there sits a man in the center. He stands, smiling widely. Tall, pale, purple eyes, long dark hair that runs all the way to his back. He wears a green tunic, making him look like a noble of great prestige, and that goes without saying that he is handsome, which makes sense seeing the women trying to flock to him.
He approaches me, kneeling in front of me, holding his hand out. I tell him that I can't quite move my left arm anymore.
(???) "Oh that is quite unfortunate, about what happened to your arm, but please let me introduce myself. My name is Samael. I've come to aid you as per the request of your friend."
"My friend? Who do you mean?"
(Samael) "Let us move from all that. I have come here to aid you. I know that you have a quest that you need to fulfill, and that is why I am here. I wish to help you become stronger in our journey to be. If you'll have me, of course."
"Well I appreciate the help, and I'd be more than happy to have you, but unfortunately as you can see. I can't quite be on the move yet. I am too injured to fight, or do anything."
(Samael) "Well I have just the solution for that. Little miss, please bring this young man to a room upstairs. I may not look like it, but I do know how to treat battle-scars like that."
They lead me upstairs to a room with Samael planning something. Meanwhile downstairs, Deliah blocks the women from following us, disappointing the crowd of lovely women all vying for the man's affection.
Rhiannon leaves the room, but curious, she stays listening in on them from outside.
Samael treats my wounds rather with great efficiency. In just a moments notice. I am covered in bandages that are neither too loose nor too tight, but rather it feels comfortable. He speaks after the treatment.
(Samael) "to top this off, I shall perform a devilishly enticing performance. Now please lie down, close your eyes, and let your mind wander off into the land of dreams.
Samael brings out a lyre, and I follow his directions. I close my eyes, and as I sleep, it all feels comforting, even just listening to the wafting wind entering the Windows are more than enough to calm my mind, but at that moment he begins his performance...
A sound fills the room. It is not loud, nor it is too silent. It sounds comforting. The young Fafnir listens to it intently, the beauty of the melody charms everyone listening to it. Even the people outside begin to close their eyes. All wanting to listen to this resonant rhythm. The sound of a lyre emitting a beautiful melody could be heard through the entire town, sending them into a trance that puts them to sleep. No one could resist hearing this and not fall in love with the music. Thus the town is silent. Samael stops playing his instrument, and speaks to himself.
(Samael) "Well it seems that a devil's charms are too great to resist. I am very sorry to rush you Fafnir, but I feel that we are a bit late in our journey. I cannot tell you much, but I will be your companion as per my friends request."
Samael writes a note, and leaves it on the desk. He then lifts the child resting on the bed, and begins to leave the building, filled with women sleeping comfortably on the floor. Samael tries to walk over them, not disturbing anyone of their rest. He exits, whistling into the air of the morning sky, and comes Sleipnir, galloping towards them, saddled up and ready.
(Samael) "I am terribly sorry everyone, but the liberator of Rydia must take his leave now. We will return someday, but for now, I bid you all a good day."
They ride out once again. He carries the young Fafnir, sleeping, as he rides out somewhere, somewhere unknown.
Where their next adventure will take them, they don't know, but there is no truth path to becoming stronger.
(Samael) "I have just the place we can go to next. A place full of temptation, where you can rest your tired body even further. Ha-ha I can't really tell you that I had to leave in a hurry because I felt his presence getting closer to the town, and I would not like to face that man for now. I wonder if you'll win someday if you become stronger, and face him. 'Luke (the Saint) Galehearth' the legendary hero of heroes. Defender of the kingdom, and the great young general of the Royal kingdom. Wait... How about I just tell you the story personally. You might like it.
~half a day passes~
An army regiment of ironclad knights approach the town of Rydia, and they carry the banner of the royal lineage of the kingdom. Led by Luke Galehearth. They arrive to a sight of a town, oddly quiet for its own good.
He wears extravagant armor displaying his rank. Wearing a helmet that covers his face. His horse, well armored, ready for battle.
(Luke) "Ready your weapons, I want a close knit formation. Wait outside the town for my signal. I will scout the enemy."
Luke surveys the town, unmounting himself from his horse. To his surprise, he sees people lying on the ground. He approach a man, and cradles him. He realizes that they are merely sleeping. He wakes him up with a backhand to his face, mercilessly hitting him several times, leaving a red mark on his face. Before he wakes up.
(Luke) "Tell me everything."
Night comes once more, the Entire town awakens once more, and the army regiment has under their protection once more, the town of Rydia.
From within the inn. Luke Galehearth listens intently to the story of the man. About what had happened. The young daemon child, the deceased bandit lord, and the what surprises Luke the most. A seductive man with long black hair, and purple eyes.
Luke clenches his fist intently.
(Luke) "That demon..."
His expression darkens, and he closes his eyes. Silently whispering to himself. "I have found you."
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Sword System Academia
2/17 NOTICE: I'm putting this on hiatus, possibly permanently. I didn't want to spam with an "update chapter", so hopefully here and in the story blurb will get enough eyeballs. There are a couple reasons for ending SSA for now. 1) I wrote the next chapter but wasn't happy with it. I've been less and less satisfied with SSA's quality the more I thought about it. Part of the reason is... 2) I am seriously thinking about trying to publish some novels to help pay the bills, since I don't have my other source of income anymore. I have never asked for anything from SSA readers, no money, not even a review or rating. SSA is written for fun to amuse myself, primarily, and I would kind of feel bad actually charging someone money for something as unserious as that. I don't think it is good enough to ask anything in return. To use an analogy from music, SSA is more like a jam session with a bunch of friends. You're just chiling and having fun playing some music. I mean, if you are Mozart or even Eminem, your jam session is good enough to sell, but for an amateur beginner like myself, haha, no. If I want to publish something, I feel like I need to go the proper route of practice and rehearsals, which might be more similar to a classical concert performance. With SSA, I work from worldbuilding notes and a loose outline, but what you are essentially getting is the first draft with lots of so-called pantsing. Pushing out a web novel like this also means it is very difficult to go back and improve things without breaking everything else downstream. I wanted to try this "jamming" approach, as it was a good way to teach me about another aspect of writing, but to move forward, I think I need to hone my "classical" techniques, which emphasize rewriting, or at least, revising outlines. 3) While I intend to try to make $$$, my actual current goal is to "get gud". I've spent a lot of time recently trying to understand the self-publishing industry, and I'm pretty sure I can make some money by using short-term strategies with my current amateur skill level. But I've seen too many authors come and go/burnout, and really, the only way that I think I can enjoy writing and still make money on a long-term basis is to become a better writer. And the next step for me, which I haven't done much before, is to spend more time on rewriting and outlines. That is pretty much antithetical to the way SSA is developing. I've always been kind of 20/80 plotting/pantsing, but I want to spend a lot more time outlining before I even start writing. SSA jam sessions don't really fit my goal anymore. If you're curious about what's next, read on... Among other regrets, I regret not finishing SSA. It's the first story I've dropped, but then again, it's the first web novel I've attempted, so I suppose that's not a surprise. I don't think traditional web novel formats suit me that well. The whole SSA story I had loosely planned (beyond a first book or major arc) is way too large as well. Big story = good for neverending webnovel with Patreons, bad for penniless and fickle writer like me. I am currently outlining a complete trilogy to another story in great detail. I want the story to end concisely, and I also want the chance to really spend a lot of time on the full outline to spot pacing problems, character issues, lost themes, and so on. I'll still share this story on RR. What I intend to do is finish book 1, flash-publish the whole thing here for a few weeks, then publish on the big Zon. Repeat for books 2 and 3. The upcoming story will be about crafting heroes. The backdrop is an isekai-like setting, where elves will summon humans to their world as heroes, but the whole hero crafting business is still in its infancy. The elven mage researchers are figuring out how to imbue heroes with power, while the heroes are trying to figure out how to use the powers that they gain. Humans are the best hero templates because they are blank and have no intrinsic magic. Or at least that what the elves thought. The human MC has his own secrets... There will be some similarities with litrpgs, but I would call it more a progression fantasy or gamelit story. For example, the stats are very low, at least initially. Say we have a stat called Str. Going from Str = 1 to Str = 2 is a huge deal. Also, going from Dex = 0 to Dex = 1 is an even bigger deal. I guess you could call it a "low-stat litrpg", haha. Also, the heroes won't be gaining stats simply by killing things or leveling up. You can't increase stats arbitrarily, either. There will be rules to how stats can increase, and how they work with each other. The elven mages will be figuring out these rules in order to craft stronger and stronger heroes. Some inspiration will be from cultivation magic systems, but there won't be overt cultivation, at least for now. A theme I really want to explore is the idea of interactions. That includes things like hero crafter vs hero, tactics vs strategy, skill synergies, racial interactions (dwarves, elves, etc), and son. Yeah, so hero crafting. I'm super excited about this project and venturing into publishing. If you want to check out the upcoming story, you can follow my RR author profile to see when it drops here. Finally... THANK YOU TO EVERYONE! I'm very sorry that SSA is stopping, but I hope at least some of you will find the next story at least as enjoyable, if not more. Thanks to all the readers who gave SSA a shot. Big hug or solid fistbump to all of you, whichever you prefer! I hope this message is not a downer but an upper, because I am psyched!! -purlcray -------------- BLURB: Talen, youngest Master of the Koroi, makes his way to the Empire's capital to salvage his clan's fate. But the bustling city has few opportunities for the traditionalist. For the old sword clans are fading. With the rise of alchemy, gold can purchase strength that ordinarily took years of training to cultivate. Sword artists, once rare and accomplished, are quickly growing in number, especially among the wealthy noble class. Even with such alchemy, though, no one has advanced to the rank of Grandmaster in countless years. Talen's true dream is to walk the path of a sword artist to the very end while fulfilling his clan duties. And then the Swordgeists return, fabled founders of all sword arts, gods who had touched the world long ago and vanished. These myths turned into reality warn of a coming threat. Alongside this warning, they issue an invitation to the Sword System Academy, a path to power beyond the mortal realm. But first, they will hold an entrance exam... Story notes:Sword System Academia blends elements of western and asian fantasy such as xianxia and litrpg. I took parts from different genres I enjoyed and twisted them into my own creation. There will be an explicit system, both of the litrpg kind and the hard(ish) magic kind, but it is embedded within an academic structure that will develop over the course of the story. This is my attempt to design a unique type of system, the System Academia.
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