Unwoven Fates

Prologue

In the snow covered mountains, a temple sat. the temple was never visited, as none remembered it. The temple sat forgotten for centuries at a time, until two remembered it and its purpose, for the temple had only one purpose; it was for the two to fulfill the prophecy it held in its walls. A prophecy that a villain will prepare to end the world, and the hero,named “the Usper”, that was chosen will slay them before the world was harmed.

Deep in the mountains,surrounded by cracked stone bricks, a man in a purple robe danced. The man danced around the temple's walls, his feet gracefully gliding over the broken floor filled with the cracks time left behind as a memory for the stones to remember. The man danced around the raised part of the floor, then slowly danced across the staircase that was nothing more than rubble from the roof slowly falling apart yet only revealing more stone from the mountain. As he landed onto the bottom floor, he looked at the art of the circle on the floor. The circle depicted the prophecy, a glaring reminder of what’s to come soon to the man who looked at the circle with an uncaring smile. He stared on for a time until he heard the metallic clanking of armor hitting stone. The man looked at where the sound was coming from; a door leading to the entrance to the temple that was only remembered by four beings. I am the first being to remember the temple, the robed man thought. Soon the door slammed open, shaking the temple’s walls with the fury of a titan and the crash of thunder. The one that came through the door was a man, young in age but old in experience. His hair was already turning grey from the hardships he faced, and he wore a suit of armor that was worn down. His sword glowing with divine energy, he prepared his speech to the robed man. This was the second being to remember the temple he thought again.

“Seiko, I am Icaroe, the Usper! Your time is at hand, for you shall not devastate the world of Macero!” the man of armor yelled out while holding his sword in his hands.

“Very well Icaro, then strike me down with your power!” seiko said, standing on the circle with arms outstretched and welcoming the blade to do its purpose

“The third being that remembers this temple is time”. Seiko thought.

Icaroe stood still, confused as to why his arch enemy was welcoming his end.

“What trick do you wait to spring upon me now?” Icaroe said while looking around for any sign of traps. Dart traps, spikes, portals filled with beasts from the otherland, but he saw nothing, for there was nothing.

“There is no trick, dear boy.” Seiko said with a grin upon his face.

“You are the Usper from the prophecy, and I am the villain. We both know how the story goes for both of our performances. I knew my time was at an end when I was chosen by the prophet, and know that it matters not if I fight or just let you get the hit in and end this tale here.”

Icaroe’s face was filled with anger, for the man that had tormented him all the way to the temple, had killed his mentor and friends, had done it because he was told to. He thought about his good friends, Korov, Declane, sweet Adille, all were dead because of this prophecy that he never wanted, and Icaro felt his heart sink into anguish. His face went stone cold, and he raised his sword high into the air, ready to strike down seiko and prepare to fight the new war that was forged. And as the sword came down, Seiko had one last thought:”and the final being that remembers the temple is fate”

Chapter 1: A village and a boy

The town of Boria is a small village close to the edge of the grassy meadows. They have a pleasant river near the east side of town, and a forest down south of the town. Both areas could be gotten to and back in less than a day, making the town a good place to build and farm grains. Despite the town's easy access to resources, the town has a small population compared to other towns or cities. Some residents say that it’s because they are a bit close to the desert filled with raiders and marauders to be comfortable despite them never attacking,others say it’s the forest being haunted by unknown and mischievous creatures, and others just shrug their shoulders and ask why they should care.

In the town of Boria, a boy sits in his room. The boy named Shaum sits, practicing magic, and tries to make a light. Magic is well known through the land, though few know how to channel it. It takes a great amount of time, knowledge, and patience to properly learn a spell, as a single movement of the wrist, or a single word pronounced wrong could cause the whole spell to fizzle out and cause nothing to happen. Shaum however, has had very little proper training and has had very little time to practice. Shaum has to work on the farm, keep up with learning what he can, and practice sword fighting with his friend, Kren. Shaum moves his hands while mumbling an incantation, then opens his hand for a ball of light to come out. Though the ball blinks out of existence before it can illuminate anything for more than a second. Shaum looks at the notes he has, torn and written poorly, trying so hard to explain a thing but failing to cover how it all connects. Another strike on Shaum's ability to properly learn magic, the only thing he does have is patience.Shaum looks out the window to see the sun making preparations to set, along with a few of the farmers. He sighs, puts away the notes into his drawer, grabs his practice sword, and leaves to go practice his sword fighting with Kren.

The walk to where Shaum and Kren practice isn’t a long walk, but it gives Shaum plenty of time to see the farms around him. While Shaum doesn't mind the farming, as it helps him stay fit and stay full, he wishes to himself everytime he takes this walk that he could be something more. He thinks about becoming a guard for the city, or maybe an explorer of the ancient ruins down in the jungle. Shuam soon after entertaining these thoughts chuckles to himself. He knows that those dreams are far away, and that the most he could do is be a part of the town guard here in Boria. Shaum thinks about how that wouldn’t be the worst job, still good pay, doesn’t have to move to a new area, old friends stay close, he could make it work.

That train of thought stops when he gets to the practice area; a part of the field marked with a line in the dirt.over the horizontal line was a wooden sword laying vertically, overlapping the dirt line. Shawum picked up the sword knowing that Kren left it for him, and was waiting for him to step into the training area so he could ambush him. Shaum looked around, trying to find the location of the ambush he knew was bound to happen. Nothing revealed itself as a good spot for an ambush, and Shaum sighed as he stepped over the line, holding his sword ready to block.

A tree rustled as a man jumped from the tree branches and brought a sword down upon Shaum! Shaum side steps as the blade lodges itself into the cold dirt, only for a second blade to be swung towards him as the man pulls his first blade back out of the dirt. Shaum quickly blocks the attacks as they start becoming an onslaught of blows. Shaum takes a look at the one who threw these blows, and knows exactly who it is. Kren continues to strike again and again with the wooden blades, wearing Shaum down until he can barely defend himself.

Shaum finds himself on a knee as two wooden swords forming an x in front of his neck as a voice full of poisonous contempt arose from the man holding the blades.

“I win again, Shaum.”

“Is this because I was late? because I feel like you are a tad bit mad about it.” Shaum says without fearful optimism.

The voice begins again, this time with more annoyance than malice.

“I wouldn’t do this as often if you showed up on time more than every other day Shaum!”

“I know, I know. Sorry about that Kren, I’ve just been daydreaming a lot lately.”

“How about you tell me about it?” Kren says as he sheaths his practice swords away and sits down in front of Shaum.

“Well, it’s been nothing more than leaving town and exploring the world. Like there is something out there waiting for us, you know?”

“Wanderlust, huh? Maybe I could help with that.”

Shaum perked up with an instant interest.

“And how is that?”

“We’ll probably get in trouble, but we could see if the myths of the forest are true.”

“How would those help us? Aren’t they known to be malevolent?”

“Some are, but there is a myth that in the middle is a powerful fairy that is peaceful, doing harmless pranks at worst. Might be able to help you find out what your wanderlust is all about.”

Shaum sits for a moment pondering about the myth. A fairy with unknown powers in a dark forest with aggressive wild life is a bit hard to believe, and not exactly the kind of thing Shaum wished to test for himself. But, the wanderlust has been gnawing at him for a time, and not much else has helped with it.

“Alright, you know the way?” Shaum sighed out as he couldn’t quite believe he had agreed to this.

“Of course I know! Wouldn’t have brought it up otherwise! Come on, follow me!”

Kren was already up on his feet and walking to the forest with a powerful stride, while Shaum tried to keep up as best he could.

Shaum chuckled to himself, thinking about how many times Kren has done something similar. Kren had always spent some time after practice in the woods, right after they had concluded. The forest has been off limits to everyone, even lumberjacks, even before Shaum was born. Everyone said that it was haunted by ghosts and trickster spirits and malevolent fairies and anything else that lived in a spooky forest, and that going in there was a very easy way to disappear. At least, everyone said disappear when Shaum was little, now that he’s nearly an adult, they just say die like any civilized person does when talking about a haunted murder forest.

But there Kren was, walking into a haunted murder forest that he has walked into countless times, completely and blatantly breaking that rule. It wasn’t like Kern ever came back the following day with scratches or bruises, or came back mentaly damaged. It may have been that Kern was always a tough shell, he never got surprised even when they accidentally caught him on fire. It was actually quite recently when they did that, for Schaum's 18th birthday they tried some more pyrotechnical flare. It wasn’t a total disaster, and they all laughed about it afterwards.

But with or without Shaum, Kern was heading into the forest again and Shaum was intrigued by the offer. He quickly ran to Kern and followed him into the forest.

Twilight was fading fast into night when Shaum and Kern went into the forest. Kern was leading the way through the twisting woods, almost cleaving a path while Shaum followed him. Shaum was surprised by how peaceful it seemed in the forest. Instead of the monsters he heard plagued the forest, the most he saw was small game and birds, with the occasional deer or elk.

“ Why do we always hear that the forest is full of monsters? There don’t seem to be any here.” Shaum finally says to break the silence they had been walking in.

“Illusions.” Kern says swiftly, not pausing to elaborate.

“Illusions?” Shaum said in disbelief. “What or whom would care to make Illusions to scare people away from this forest?”

Before Kern could respond, a shrill cry was heard from much deeper in the forest. It was like a deer cry, yet almost human sounding. The cry rattled the forest, as birds flew away and small game hid in trees and burrows to escape the cry, or at least what could be causing the cry.

Shaum quickly passed Kern, running with reckless abandon to the source of this cry. Kern was following behind him, knowing the danger Shaum could be throwing himself into. There was no time to plan, nor the ability to tell Shaum to wait. When Shaum sets himself out to things like this, there’s little chance of stopping him.

Shaum was the first to reach the clearing. There, a pure white stag with golden eyes and glowing white fur layed on the ground, its front right leg bent in a way not normally achieved without breaking any bones. There was blood coming from the leg, creating a small pool of crimson that stained the white stag’s fur, as well as the dagger stuck there. On the ground, slowly getting up, was a woman in a brown cloak. She was panting, out of breath, and seemed to be bruised and slightly bloody. The cloak was hiding most of her face, and Shaum didn’t recognize them at all. To his credit, they didn’t recognize him either, as they had in fact never met before. There is a silence as they stare at each other, both confused by the appearance of the other. The silence hangs in the air, until the cloaked woman begins to speak.

“ Well,howdy there! Are you lost? I was just wandering when this unique beast startled me, but I think I got it taken care of. You need me to show you back to the town nearby?”

A Thunk is heard right by her head, as a dagger gets stuck into a tree trunk. Both turn their heads to see a fuming Kern, preparing to throw another dagger.

“ You’re just trying to skin Donoko!” Kern Shouts as he throws his second dagger. This time the woman dodges out of the way, letting the dagger tumble to the ground.

“Hey! I… well… I can’t say you’re wrong but how dare you !?” The woman says, seeming caught off guard by Kern’s accusation, as well as the third dagger thrown at her that cuts her shirt on the side, but no skin is cut by it.

“ Shaum! Get her!” Kern yells, now out of daggers and trying to give what medical attention he can to the white stag he called Donoko. Shaum quickly pulls out the practice blade and begins running to the woman, who begins running away. As she runs, she begins to string together a list of profanities into a long sentence with no other types of words. Shaum tries to catch up, but finds her very agile and very good at running, until confusion emerges in Shaum as she climbs a tree. The trees are quite tall, making it hard to get to here without also climbing up the tree.

“That was not the smartest move, ma’am.” Shaum says with a bit of confidence.

“Says you! From up here, I can see all my advantages!” she yells back, voice oozing with confidence and joy.

“You trapped yourself up there! What advantages do you have?”

“Well, you can’t get to me without climbing, making my chance of escape much easier if you try!”

“But you’re stuck in one location!”

“I can climb to other trees easily enough.”

“ well that leaves you stuck in the forest”

“Till you leave, or fall asleep.”

“Do you think you can wait that long?”

“Considering my sleep schedule, I'd say I got a fair shot at outlasting you here.” the woman said as she grinned.

Shaum sighed, as he put his back to the tree and leaned back.

“Welp, looks like we’ll be here for a while!” Shaum called out.

“Fine by me, I’ve got time.”

There was silence while they sat, both waiting for the other to give up.

“So… what’s your name?” Shaum said suddenly.

“Why do you want to know?” the woman replied, surprised by this unexpected question.

“ Figure I should at least have the name of the person who I'm chasing. Especially if we’re gonna sit here for a while.”

“Yeah, like I'd just hand over my name like that. Perfect for getting authorities involved.” she replied. Another moment of silence passed.

“My name is Shaum.”

A brief moment passes.

“...Kyan.”

“Well Kyan, I think I'll break this stalemate for us. Kern is probably wanting help, and I figure I couldn’t catch you here. Just promise to never come back here, ok?” Shaum says as he pushes himself off from leaning on the tree.

“What’s the catch?” Kyan says, unconvinced by his leave.

“No catch, just don’t come back and we shouldn’t have to fight over this.”

“ Deal. if both of us are lucky we will never see each other again.”

“Well, goodbye Kyan. I wish you the best, and a better job for you.”

Shaum jogs off, back to the white stag and Kern, Leaving Kyan free to run away and pray to never see them again.

By the time Shaum gets back to Kern, the white stag has almost completely stopped moving. The life in its eyes linger, as if there is something it needs to do before it can die. Kern looks over at Shaum.

“Did you get them?” Kern says.

“No, they got away.” Shaum defeatedly remarks.

“Seems like you’ve had as good of luck as me, then.” Kern says as he turns his head over to the stag.”He's holding on for dear life, but isn’t gonna last much longer even after bandaging what I could.”

“Good news, I got her name. She goes by Irma.” Shaum states, trying to lighten the mood.

“Children…” A voice called out, horse and gasping, coming from the stag.” children… seek… out… seer… in… capital…”

And then the stag died, the light leaving its eyes. The two looked at each other, stunned by what they had heard. The capital was not the farthest from the town of boria(that would be the mountain town of Noivela) but it was still a good day's journey. And while both have been there for a day once, due to some nagging at a young age, it had been a long time since they had gone. And neither one had ever heard of a sear, much less what business they would have with one.

“I think we should go to the capital, Donoko always has-” Kern quickly gets cut off.

“ ALRIGHTY! WE GET TO GO ON AN ADVENTURE! WOOOOOOOOO!” Shaum yells out in excitement. Shaum had come to the forest with wanderlust, and now has been given a journey out of his town.

“We should go back, rest for the night, and get up before noon.” kern quickly says, making plans for the journey.

“Well we first got to get back, so let’s get to it!” Shaum says while pulling Kern up to his feet.” It’s nearly midnight i’d guess, so we better get moving if we wanna wake up early!”

Kern looked into Shaum's eyes. There was a light in them, almost burning with passion. Kern noticed how it was dimming over the years, getting faint as the years went on. But now, There was that light again. It burned with its intensity, and seeing it made Kern smile a little. And with Shaum, Kern led the way back to town, where they could sleep for the night.

It was the dead of night when Shaum and Kern split ways to go to their houses and sleep. Kern didn’t have much problem, he was always a fair bit stealthy and would do this on the regular. Shaum on the other hand, was not so skilled with being quiet. But, maybe due to luck or his parents pretending they didn’t hear, Shaum quickly gets to his bed and falls asleep. Shaum dreams of the adventure ahead, thinking about just what this sear person would be. Perhaps a wise old man, who has been around for a century and held mysterious wisdom, Or perhaps a sorceress with mighty arcane power, Or maybe a talking cat. It was about the point where the sear’s became talking animals that Shaum’s dreams stopped making nearly as much sense.

It was late morning when Shaum got up, quickly got ready for the day, and went down to see if he could make a quick breakfast. His parents were waiting for him, simple eggs and steak already made with an apple on the side, and a glass of milk.

“Morning mom, morning dad!” Shaum said, his excitement not even close to being contained.

“Heya sport! What’s got you so enthusiastic?” his dad responded.

“Does it have anything to do with you getting back home in the middle of the night?” his mother added, playfully sarcastic as usual.

“Oh, right… sorry about that. Kern took me to see the forest and we saw this white stag and it was hurt and Kern tried to save it but-”

“You’re about to start rambling again, sweetie.” his mom casually interjected.

“ He isn’t rambling, He’s Shaum!” His dad said with a big grin on his face. His eyes quickly looked over at his wife’s smiling at the joke.

“Well, The white stag said to go to the Sear in the capital? It died, so we couldn’t ask more questions. But we wanted to go check it out if that’s ok.`` Shaum asked.

“ HA!” his dad let out a haughty laugh.” ya don’t need to ask us anymore, Champ! You’re an adult now! You get to do what you want!”

“ But if you ever need a place to stay, we will always be here for you.” his mom said while giving him a hug.

“Thanks! I’ll make sure to visit soon!” Shaum said as he started towards the door.

“We Love you!” his mom and dad both shouted in unison as he opened the door.

Shaum called back “ Love you guys too!” then went out to finally begin his first adventure.

Kern was already waiting for him by the road out of town, dressed in a fine shirt with a leather chest piece on top. His jet black hair was combed through, roughed up, and then parted to the side, and was an unusual sight for Shaum who was much more used to his casual unkempt hair. He was also used to seeing Kern in just a simple clean shirt, pants, boots, and a dark green cloak, as Kern had gotten one for his and loved to wear it. However, this sudden change in look did not displease Shaum, but was surprising nonetheless and was visible on his face. A look that Kern quickly noticed and addressed.

“Heya. We should be looking presentable if this sear character is of any nobility, so I-”

“WOW! You look amazing Kern! You’re all dressed up, you did your hair all up and nice, you look great!” Shaum was in total awe of Kern, who tried to speak again.

“Ah…thanks? Did you think to bring good clothes as well?” Kern asks.

Silence falls as they stare at each other blankly.

“Did you think to dress up for the occasion, Shaum?” Kern asks again, this time with firmness.

Another moment of silence falls, till Kern exhales deeply.

“Of course you didn’t. It’ll be fine, we’ll just buy something at the city when we get there.”

“What’s wrong with my normal wear?” Shaum asks in earnest.

Kern looks over Shaum. Shaum has on his long sleeve white shirt that has become ragged due to time and use, slightly baggy brown pants with the pant legs tied off at the bottom, and a pair of old boots. Perfectly fine setup for a farmer, but not so much for much else. His dirty blonde hair is ragged, though seemingly combed through with nothing more than a hand and some water. On his back is a backpack, which he assumes is full of supplies for the trip, as well as some spell books that Shaum got for his birthday. On his hip, there was a sheath with a shortsword in it, as they haven't had the ability to use much more. At least he has a weapon on hand, Kern thought to himself.

“Nothing is wrong with it, Shaum. It’s just that when presenting yourself to someone of higher standing, you at least try to look your best.” Kern says to Shaum.

“But this is my best! It’s the best because it’s a real me experience!” Shaum states.

“ I know, but some people don’t know you, and will judge you on clothing first. And then they’ll never know.” Kern calmly explains.

“Ahhh, I understand. But I don’t actually have any fancy clothes.” Shuam scratched the back of his head, a little unsure what to do now.

“We’ll at least get you a new shirt, nothing too fancy, but something good for use and fashion.”

“Okay!” Shaum was a little excited. He knew that Kern knew a fair bit about looking good, and figured Kern could help him get something perfect for him while still looking better than usual.

And with that, the two men began their travels. It was not a long trip, but it would take most of a day to get there. Normally the farmers of boria would take their crops all the way up to the capital and spend the day there to sell all they could. The inn near the edge of town, The Mourning wood, was cheap and quick and would be the common rest spot for the farmers. Both managed to keep eachother afloat, with the farmers stabilizing income with the inn and the farmers getting to sell more created quite the profitable idea for both parties involved. Shaum and Kern both planned on staying there if they needed to. They were about halfway there when Kern pulled out a map.

“Hm? You have a map?” Shaum said, surprised by the sudden map.

“Yeah, I want to make sure we don’t get lost in Eligos.” Kern stated, not looking up from the map.

“Eligos?”

“Oh, right. That’s the capital’s official name.” Kern said informatively.

Shaum shrugged. He never heard the Capital referred to by its name before, only ever referred to as the Capital.

“ It’s a large city,” Kern continued on.” So understanding the layout is a good plan to find this Sear Person.”

Kern begins to form a plan: They would be there late afternoon, so they would go and ask for the sear, see if an appointment can be set, and then go clothing shopping for Shaum. The next day they would see the sear. The plan was formed, and before they knew it, they were at the city of Eligos.