Veins Of Kings

Shimly found the source of Renella's voice inside the bag which was a small metal wand with glowing inscriptions carved into its side with symbols that he did not recognize. The symbols glowed with yellow light as the wand talked. Shimly held up the wand and showed it to his two companions, inspiring amazement from all three.

"Firstly, this way of communication will not last forever and will not work at any distance to0 far, so we must be concise with our words. Understood boys?"

"Wha.. eha.. um can you?.. are you in..? Was that fire?" Rygon muttered in disbelief as he looked at the glowing device held up by Shimly.

"Oh boy.." the wand responded worriedly. "Well, anyway in the bag there are many things that will be of assistance to you, non of which can be used infinitely and some of which can be recharged. Firstly this wand, which is used for communication, and the Royal Flame Pendant, which is use to throw flames. There's also various armament powders and..." Renalla was inturrupted by Vooli.

"Hold." Whispered Vooli.

There was a moment of silence as all four listened to the sounds of footsteps that made the ground shake.

"That sounds like something big fellas." Renalla stated the obvious. "You three need to hide. Filo! Return home!" Filo took off from its branch, pierced the forest canopy, and dissapeared into the night sky. "I will keep listening but I don't know what kind of enemy is coming. You three stay hidden and stay quiet, and only talk once the creature is gone." The wand finished.

The three could feel the ground shake and hear trees bend and crack as the unknown creature drew nearer. Vooli rode down the path to stay hidden as the other two extinguished their lanterns and hid in the thick forest on the sides of the trail.

Slowly, as each heavy footstep shook the ground, a massive decrepit ogre slowly passed the hidden duo. As it passed the still burning horse, the two were able to get a good look at the beast. It's skin, like the others, seemed to be absent of any features other than an unmatched void of color or features. Only the dancing light from the fire gave definition to the crevices and curves that made up its humanoid shape. It's eyes left a whisp of ghostly smoke that trailed and curled behind them just like the undead horse. On it's two shoulders laid both Shimly and Rygon's bloodied and dead horses like some kind of fur decor. It's body bulked with heavy muscles and it held a large tree trunk in one hand like a club. It's head collided with the trees above the trail as it walked, bending and crushing their branches. It was truly frightening. Shimly and Rygon looked on in fear and disbelief. It followed the trail leading toward Vooli.

Once the orgre made its way past the bend in the trail, Rygon grabbed the wand from Shimly.

"Hello?" Rygon whispered.

"Are you safe?" Renalla asked from the wand.

"Yes. The creature was some kind of giant, what do we do?" Rygon responded.

"Do not try and fight that beast, try and escape then return home. Do your best to not lead it back here as it sounds like there's a situation in the village lads. I can hear a commotion outside and I fear some of these creatures may be in the village." Renalla said as a loud but distant screech sounded through the wand. "I suggest you all come at once, we may need the trinkets I lent you. I will contact you again but first I need to see what's going on." After one final crashing sound, the voice ended and the symbols that glowed on the wand became dark and almost invisible.

The two could not get the voice to answer again and the wand remained unlit. And after a breif discussion the two decided they needed to find Vooli and escape the monster.

As the two walked they began to gain on the giant. They stayed 100 yards behind the ogre and watched for signs for Vooli. After a few hours they were inturrupted.

"Spssss, hold". Vooli whispered from the thick tree line that boarded the trail.

"Vooli!" The two exclaimed a little too loudly.

"Shhh, what's the plan?" Vooli asked as he broke through the trees from his hiding place and appeared on the trail.

"Well, the village is under attack according to Renalla. And we need to go back and assist them but we can't bring that monster back with us." Shimly explained worriedly.

"Right, so we need to somehow turn that thing around and make our way past it and get to the village. Where's your horse?" Rygon asked.

"I felt I had to abandon it. I sent it back toward the village but I'm afraid the stead will be too loyal. I can't imagine it making it far without me before coming back or becoming afraid." Vooli answered. "If it comes back and provokes the giant I'm going to try and protect her, my horse will not meet the fate of the other two."

"I'm not sure if we can best that thing." Rygon said thinking.

At that moment, footsteps thundered and shook the ground. The beast was running. It roared and the sound of tree limbs bursting followed by a loud boom demanded the trios attention. And the faint sounds of a distraught horse sent Vooli running toward the sounds.

"Ahhh no!" Shimly said in disbelief.

"Lets go Shimly!" Rygon said as he followed Vooli. The two tried to keep up but Vooli was fast and soon gained a substantial lead.

As Vooli ran, his horse appeared on the trail galloping from the darkness, with the sprinting giant quaking the ground directly behind the mare in pursuit. Leaves fell from being shook by the ogres steps, and right before the horse passed Vooli, the giant leaped, swinging its club above its head which left a trail in the forest canopy above, exposing the night sky. Its mighty swing barely missed the fleeing mare and caused an explosion on the ground before Vooli. Vooli breifly panicked and stumbled, falling from the sheer might of the impact. Leaves, sticks, and tree limbs rained down on the area after the mighty swing of the club. The horse ran past Vooli, then Rygon and Shimly.

"Shimly, give me that amulet!" How does it work?" Rygon asked as they tried to catch up with Vooli.

The beast regained its posture and looked at the unexpected man sitting before it on the ground. Vooli quickly got up, retreated, drew his bow, then fired a shot that hit one of the horses resting on the giants shoulders. Vooli retreated further and prepared to fire another shot, but the ogre charged, and released a mighty roar as it ran. This time the beast swung the club horizontally, battering some trees that lined the trail and tried to hit Vooli. Vooli fell to the ground and the giants club passed over him. Vooli regained enough form to fire a shot that hit the beast in it's lower leg, which recieved no apparent reaction from the creature. As Vooli tried to get up the beast threw Rygon's dead horse at him, which he barely dodge by falling flat on the ground. Then the creature raised the tree trunk above his head and prepared to strike Vooli with a vertical swing. Vooli tried to get outside of the clubs reach but there would be no time, instead he simply rolled to his right and prayed the strike would miss him. The impact shook the ground so violently that, for a moment, Vooli thought he was struck, but it was simply the shock of his body leaving the ground for an instant and landing again that confused him momentarily. His roll worked and he escaped within inches of his life. He looked up and saw the monster staring at him. Its posture was not yet recovered from its attack but it released another roar. Its horrid mouth shot phlegm and spit as the sound deafened Vooli. But before Vooli could react and the creature could regain its composure, flames engulfed the monster's head and filled its mouth. Its roar was immediately stifled and replaced with sounds of flames and muffled panic.

"Haha!" Rygon yelled in triumph.

Vooli looked to see Rygon and Shimly -who was catching his breath behind Rygon- then used the opportunity to get back on his feet and fire arrows into the beast as it tried desperately to put out the flames engulfing its head. Then Vooli circled around the beast, drew his sword and cut its heel, causing the monster to fall to the ground. This indirectly caused the beast to roll and put out the flames, losing Shimly's horse from its shoulder in the process. Seeing this, Rygon proceeded to approach the monster and fire flames that covered the beast. This time the giant rolled and grabbed its club, got on one knee, and prepared to swing with both hands. Vooli saw the attack coming, leapt, and tackled Rygon to saftey. The beast's swing cleared trees on both sides of the trail and created a circle clearing of broken tree trunks. Pieces of shattered wood and broken trees were sent flying like shrapnel. Fortunately the three made it out fairly unscathed despite a few splinters of varying sizes. The monster on the other hand, was wounded and screeched in pain as it fell to the ground, still smoldering from the flames.

The three caught their breath as they looked at the downed and burned creature.

"We should move, the village might be in trouble." Rygon said. The others nodded and the three got up and proceeded to run toward their home.

"What about your horse?" Shimely asked Vooli.

"She's probably spooked, but alive and that's all that matters. I'll find her another time." Vooli answered confidently as he matched the pace of his two companions.

As the three ran back to the village a loud roar caught their attention. The beast was not dead. It could no longer be seen down the dark path but the sounds it made were unlike before, its cries sounded deranged and desperate.

"Even if it makes it to the village it will no longer be as formidable. We should keep going." Rygon said to which the others agreed. "We shouldn't be long now."

And Rygon was right, because in less than 5 minutes of running a small hole at the end of the trail appeared which indicated the entrance to the village. The silver moonlight that was usually the defining color of the entrance at night was now joined by an odd dancing orange glow.

"The village must be on fire." Vooli observed out loud.

"Lets hurry."

As the trio approached the trail's exit they started to hear the horrible screeches from creatures and the sound of villagers screaming. Behind them they could hear the ogre roaring. All this noise made Shimly panic.

"Wait!" Shimly stopped and yelled.

The other two stopped and turned to look at Shimly.

"I.. I have the feeling that I might not make it past tonight, and I don't want this moment of peace to be our last. But if it is our last, I'd like to make it count and not leave anything left unsaid that might I might not be able to say tomorrow. So.."

"Shimly, relax." Rygon inturrupted him. "If there's only the pond creatures and orges ahead I think we'll manage fine.

And just as he finished saying this, as if to indicate he was wrong, a giant dragon flapped its mighty wings above their heads and pushed air down on the three as it flew toward the village.

"As I was saying.."

"Shimly, hold it until tomorrow." Rygon said, inturrupting him again and smiling nervously at Shimly. "This will not be our last night together. Now, let's go."