Adventures in Thoulor

Orson

"Keep going! We're almost there!"

Twigs and branches snap under my bare feet as I sprint through the dense forests of the east. Thorns cut across my legs and the limbs of trees batter my torso. Arrows fly overhead and stick into trees with a resounding shunt. Bolts of fire and lightning streak by, decimating the canopy above, showering me in ash and acorns.

"Mor nehel'feer!"

They shout something in some sort of language. One I've heard them use many times before, but never could quite understand. Maybe they're calling off the chase? An arrow buries itself in a tree mere inches from my head. Probably not...

I'm the first of us to break through the tree line. The final stretch to the front-line. I'm almost home free! I hear more rustling from behind me. Maybe it's them. Maybe they're keeping up!

Woosh

Wait, they don't have wings.

WOOSH

That sounds too big to be them...

KRAKOOM!

I duck my head as bows of countless trees go flying over my head. I quickly take a look behind me as I continue my dash. A fiendish mix of a minotaur and a flaming ball of anger. Large, leathery, bat-like wings keep its even larger form aloft. A strand of pure flame dangles from one hand, and a bolt of pure lightning sits clutched in its other.

Its roar nearly shatters my bones with fear as I continue to break for the shimmering, dark purple barrier that marks the end of the Abyssal Dominion. Beyond that, hopefully, safety.

The purple sky above me crackles with red lightning as this monstrosity darts down towards me. Is this it? Is this the end? If so, I hope he got out alright. Eighty feet and closing in. Who knows what the reach on that whip is...

"Wax, zlok!" the creature roars, again in another language I do not understand, but its voice strikes fear into the deepest pits of my soul.

This is it. This is most definitely it... Wait... is that galloping?

I turn to look back at the barrier to find two horses charging in my direction. On their backs, riders in full plate armor, shining and glittering in even this most gloomy atmosphere.

"Get down!" One of them calls out, finally in a language I understand. I dive onto the ground as the figures storm past me, brandishing some of the finest swords I have ever seen in my life.

What are those going to do against THAT thing?

One of the riders stands on the back of their horse. I now notice a sort of dark purple cloak hanging from the back of their armor. Or, at least, I do until the cloak splits and forms into two large, bird-like wings as this figure leaps off of their steed and goes rocketing towards the fiend, greatsword ready to swing away.

The other rider, on the other hand, stops dead in their tracks and lifts something up above their head. I can't make any detail out at this distance, but a blinding white light streaks out and collides with its target, the winged monster, leaving a sort of pale shimmer around it.

The winged knight swings their sword, almost cutting through the beast, then letting out its own blinding white light as it makes contact. The fiend already looks harrowed, and misses its target after swinging its own sword.

The figure on the ground raises their other hand now, sending a faint green light drifting towards the monstrosity, causing its form to clearly wither and begin to decay as it looks like all of the moisture in its body has been suddenly drawn out of it. The raven-winged combatant swings another time; this time managing to lop off its now withering arm, forcing it to drop its lash of flame.

After more blows, from both seemingly friendly combatants, and the fiend getting a few in on the flying knight, the beast eventually plummeted and collided into the dirt below. The knights, after collecting themselves, made their way back in my direction.

"Are you alright?" the winged one asks.

"Y-yeah, I think so... my brother, he was running with me. Do you see him?" The horse-bound knight gallops towards the shattered tree line, leaving me alone with their compatriot.

"How long have you been out here?" he asks as he kneels down towards me.

"I'm coming from Elderhaven. The resistance there tasked me to get a message out to you all beyond the border. That was about a month or so ago... those dark elves captured me and my brother on our way eastward."

"You're the courier? Theyarus Darona received correspondence through arcane means mentioning a courier coming from the East. That's you?"

"I don't know who Theyarus Darona is, but I was told to get this message to whoever's in charge of the armies."

"That is Theyarus Darona. Leader of the Silver Wing. What is this message you need to deliver?"

"I was specifically told it was for their eyes only. No offense."

"None taken. We'll just find your brother and get you two across the border to Darona."

"Hey! I think I found him!" the other knight called out. "But we need to move him out of here, fast!"

I get up and sprint across the field to where the calls are coming from to find the other knight kneeling on the ground next to my brother, who currently has two arrows in his shoulders. He is lying still, but still breathing.

"Orion?... are you okay, Orion?" I ask as I kneel down and lay my hands on his back.

"Here," the knight next to me says, "let me take care of those." I look down at my wrists as they run a dagger through the rope that is keeping my wrists bound together, which I completely forgot about during my escape.

"Thank you... could you do anything to help my brother?" I respond. If I could see the knight's face, I'm guessing they have a tentative look on their face? Like they're trying to figure out what they can do?

"We have no idea if the Demons have the Drow tipping their arrows with, so right now, our safest option is to get him to the clerics back at the Iros Order in Uvastall."

"Uvastall's still there? I would have thought that by now... you know..."

"The walls of Uvastall are too strong for any Balor; maybe even for Orcus himself."

"Let's hope it never comes to that... my name is Orson, by the way. Orson Cherrelle, from Elderhaven. This is my brother, Orion."

"Nice to meet you. I am Thorin Kellath. Cleric of the Iros Order. That, over there, is Nauroun. I'm not exactly sure of his path, but he came to us with a handful of soldiers from the Silver Wing a few months ago, when they pledged their service to a handful of deities that the Order worships. He himself worships The Raven Queen, the Matron of Death."

"So do you follow the Raven Queen as well? Where are your wings?"

"Well," Thorin begins, "while he follows the Matron, I follow Corellon, the Goddess of Spring. The matron of elves themselves, actually," she says as she removes her helmet for the first time, letting her blonde hair topple out, framing her delicate face. "And he gets those wings from his cloak. A gift from a mage in Angelmore Hold."

"You are not what I was expecting under that helmet." I chuckled. She hands me the helmet and steps over to the tree line.

"Nauroun! Bring your horse, we're getting these two out of here!" she calls out before turning back to me. "Can you lift him?"

"I can try. We've been on the run for days, and imprisoned for weeks before that, but I can try." I say, climbing to my feet. I grab my brother's left side while Thorin grabs his right, the two of us lifting him onto the back of her horse.

"Get on the back of Nauroun's horse. Don't worry, I'll take care of him." Thorin says as she mounts her horse, carefully maneuvering around the arrows sticking out of Orion's back. Seconds later, I'm scooped up by Nauroun and flung on the back of his steed, and seconds later, we're past the barrier.

The sunlight feels harsh against my eyes, and my pale skin. I've been beyond that barrier for so long, I can't remember the last time I've seen the sunlight. Or any healthy, growing grass and plant life for that matter.

As a force of habit, I reach to pull the hood of my cloak over my head, but it isn't there anymore. Shit. I probably should have grabbed that.