A Song Of The Godless

"There weren't always dragons in the valley." a bored, arrogant voice fell hard to the ground. The rain assaulted the stone walls of the cell. The air was cold, damp, and smelled of despair and hopelessness. Mold was growing in the back corners that the rats used to shroud themselves in the shadows. They had already made a break for their nests at the first booming of the sky being ripped open by the clashing lightning above the ocean waves. A single lit torch barely glowing with life, just out side the wooden bars of the cells supplied the only breath of warmth casting a small light struggling to hold it's own against the shadows.

There were three cells total in this small wing of the city prison, each on the same side of the room. They had a bench for the prisoners to sleep on and thick wooden bars arranged in a crosshatched pattern making perfect squares to see out into the room. Only two of the cells were occupied, there was no guard stationed to keep watch that night. He had went home to be with his family at the first break of the storm, and the captain didn't see that it would matter to keep watch when most of the prison was empty only holding the a well known neighborhood drunk, and a petty theif.

The first one was the one who had spoken, tucked away in the back corner of the wing, furthest from the door. He was draped in a black cloak, his hood pulled up over his icy white long hair. He had an unsettling smile and his teeth were as sharp as a sword. His left arm was wrapped in a thicker black cloth than the rest of his clothing. Four thick leather straps were tightened around his arm two near his shoulder, one just below his elbow, and a third at his wrist, the sleeve was tightly knotted at the end. The straps had strange red rune etched across their length. The man gave off an unsettling, and ominous aura. "Did you know that? That there weren't always dragons in the valley." A flash of lightning blasted through the small cell windows absorbing the shadows and escaping them just as quickly.

"Will ya shut it, I'm tryna get some sleep. Rather this dinky cell collapse than listen ta ya." A raspy voice rattled around the walls unsure of where to make it's rest. The other man was older, reeking of boozy his eyes were glazed over. There wasn't anything particularly remarkable about the man, a known problem for the streets he kept to and often an occupant of the prison.

"They were strangled out of the womb of Mount Helmisch by the fresh babe of a god, Sol. That must have been a hundred years ago, back when the Empire of Solesta was on the verge of extinction. A young god that needed to prove his worth, now look at them they have taken the entire northern continent and are sitting on the border of Moria." Another flash of lightning followed by the loud cries of the sky.

"Yeah, yeah, and they've been stuck at the Morian border for the past twenty years. No one is tearin' down the barrier of the giants. Now leave me be."

"I wouldn't be too sure." The man in black chuckled, "Although I'll leave you to a long rest. I'm afraid I must make my exit." Another boom ripped across the sky, this time it wasn't lead by a flash of purple. The cells shook, cracks started to form in the middle cell where the old man lay on his bench.

The man perked up his head looking towards the door as distant screams started to flood the cell with the rain. There was a loud blast as large splintering roots crashed through the cell wall. The man shot up, turning around to see the roots and broken bricks rushing towards him, the roots burying themselves in his torso and neck. Blood splattered across the bench, and cell walls. Blood sputtered out of his mouth where it had foamed up as he tried to take one last breath. The roots slowly pulled back, taking its of intestine and organ with it. The old man's body lost it's balance and collapsed to the floor, blood pooling with the rain water. The rest of the cell wall crumbled as the roots shrunk back into their owners arm.

"You go too far once again Walden, you need to learn to control your strength. What if I had been in that cell?" An odd pair stepped into the rain soaked cell. Walden was a large human-like wooden automaton. There was a bright blue light, that held his joints together, emitting from the cracks and openings of the wood, and where his eyes were. There was a old sun-stained brown bag on his back and a sword hanging from his shoulder in a sheath with an elegant, and intricate design reminiscent of the old royal family of the southern ice wastes. The bright blue light formed the shape of a smile expressing how proud of himself he was.

The other was an even larger creature. A woodval that stood at eight and half feet tall ducked through the large hole created by Walden. His long ears touched the ceiling of the cell. He was a bear-like creature, broad shoulders, wearing a gold a green jacket the went down to his ankles, and a leather shirt and matching cloth pants. His ears stuck out of the top of a reddish-brown tricorne hat, and he was missing his left leg, taken below the knee a wooden peg was held to his stump by the same blue energy radiating from Walden. He had a wide great-sword on his back almost as big as he was and two heavy hammers, with royal Morian etchings that he had won in a duel, strapped to either side of his hips. "Should have just pulled the entire prison down on him. Then we could have kept his cut." A deep voice snarled out of his diaphragm, shaking the cells as much as the lightning was.

"You wouldn't have been able to pull the job off without me." Walden walked towards the cell that held the man in black. Roots once again grew out of his arm wrapping themselves around the four corners of the door. He easily ripped the door from its frame and threw it into the stone wall behind him. The torch jumped from its sconce, the light drowned in the water as soon as it clanked against the hard stone floor. Lightning flashed the room with blue light once more, the screams from outside growing louder and the sky being filled with the booms roars.

"We wouldn't have landed ourselves in a cheap inn like this one." The Woodval barked back. Walden held the brown bag on his back and sword out as the man in black approached. He fixed the sword back to his belt, and pulled a few more belts from the bag with bottles filled with different colored substances, one notably contained a floating eye.

"Yes, of course unfortunately for me our friend over there decided I was an accomplice in his most recent drunken adventure and I was taken here for petty theft that I did not commit." He was just barely audible muttering through his jaded breath. He pulled out a smaller gray book bag, putting it over his shoulder it came down to his hip opposite the sword.

"I don't want to hear excuses Chrona, I want to get out of here before it gets worse. I didn't plan on making our leave while the city was being razed." The Woodval turned around and started out of the prison knocking out more of the bottom wall as he made his way through.

"Well my dear Walden, it seems we have upset good old Tolkien. Let us make haste, less you be burned up with the rest of the houses aye?" He pulled out one last object from the bag before discarding it to the floor. A large rimmed pointy black hat, he replaced his hood with it. The brim covered most of his face just like the hood had, it's point reached out towards heaven, being thwarted by gravity it fell back down on itself halfway up.

Walden smiled once more with the help of the blue energy. They stepped over the dead man and rubble out into the pounding of the storm. Fires raged all around them, even the strength of the wind and rain couldn't quell the dragon's flames. Three were flying overhead, you could hear women and children screaming as the roars filled the sky above. Men were screaming out to get to the ballistae on the wall stretching around the city. Two were already manning one had. Even though they were fumbling they managed to load a black tipped arrow and started taking aim. Before they could pull the lever a dragon had swooped down and pulled the ballista and men from the wall and dropping them to the ground. The men hit the ground first followed by the ballista crushing them into the dirt they came from.

The great city of Avantwood was thrown into ruin in less than an hour. The city had stood tall for over a thousand years, never being breached. It was the furthest north of all cities in the kingdom of Moria, sitting high on a cliff overlooking the eastern sea, and the Solesta Empire had stationed themselves outside it's great barrier for the past couple of decades throwing everything at it but never being able to bring it down. The barrier ran all the way around the Morian border being conjured by giant stone golem. They golems were created by the God of Stone Terraesta. He was one of the twelve Morian God's and had complete control of the border. It would be days before he would be able to create a new golem to replace the old.

The Solestian military poured in through the opening in the barrier quickly devouring its tall stone walls and ripping through to the heart of the city. The burned everything and everyone that stood in their way.

"What a nice day for a leisurely stroll through the city, eh Tolkien?" Chrona smiled showing his sharp teeth, with a bounce in his step as he made his way through the rubble.

Tolkien let out a low growl in response, obviously annoyed by the extra work of breaking him out of his cell. "Let's just get to the portal and back to the Solesta encampment for our reward. After that we will continue north to the port city of Ravensward, there should be even more lucrative work there."

"More lucrative than dooming a city and possibly the oldest kingdom in Aesteria to ruin?" A laugh bellowed out of Chrona's stomach, Walden joined him by clapping his hands as the two step over the bodies of women and children struck down in the city streets.

The strange trio turned down a dark alley. It was lined with old dust covered abandoned buildings, most had been burned down and left in disarray long before the siege had started. A single building stood complete, although it was covered in dust and soot from years of not being used. There were fresh footprints and the door knob had been mostly cleaned from where a these few had been coming in and out of the city.

Tolkien opened the door and was greeted by even more dust and debris as it tried to escape to the outside world. The screams, clashing of swords, and dragon's roars were just barely audible in the abandoned part of the city. The building had been ransacked for supplies long ago, drawers thrown across the floor, a bookshelf lay destroyed in the middle, shards of ceramic bowls were everywhere, and the air was thick with the stench of the mold that had taken up residence in every corner. They headed up the creaky staircase which was surprisingly still able to hold anyone's weight. As they approached a door all the way in the back of the upstairs hallway they could start to hear a buzzing noise.

They stepped through the back door reveling a large blue swirling of energy. "Ah my beauty is still up and running perfectly. Let's see how you would have gotten in and out of this city without it." Chrona's eyes lit up admiring the large vortex of blue wisps.

"I'm not interested, hurry up and get in so we can get out of here and get paid." The three took turns walking into the portal and disappearing into mist.