I have finally gotten over my perfectionist inclinations and have decided to finally post my story here. I believe that RuleJJ will remember this, and perhaps others will as well.
This story is not inherently Castle, but could very will include characters inspired by RPCs in the Castle RP.
I have approximately 10,000 words written, split into 9 chapters. I'll post them in parts so as not to overwhelm you with a block of text, and try to get writing again so you'll have more to read when I reach the end of my current draft.
For now, you get the "teaser trailer".
Things of the past have resurfaced.... things best left forgotten, or treated as some distant memory from a nightmare. But the wraiths have returned to this world, and things will never be the same.
Heroes will be made. Kingdoms will fall. War will be waged. A world will be changed.
-last edited on Apr 18, 2017 20:21:20 GMT by LegoBuilder
Post by LegoBuilder on Apr 18, 2017 20:19:21 GMT
Chapter 1
The house rose up in flames. They licked hungrily at the night sky, silhouetting the forms fleeing the conflagration of their home. As they reached the edge of the forest a shadowy form emerged from the dwelling’s charred remains. He watched the family flee, before signalling to his men. Two trolls strode forward with drawn weapons and entered the forest with cruel smiles on their faces. The leader turned and beckoned to several others. He drew his dark longsword and found a house that was not yet burning. The two soldiers understood. They smashed down the door. The first to enter bellowed a challenge. There was a clash of steel on steel, followed by a dull thud. The troll roared in pain. He stumbled out of the hut holding his chest. The man watched him crash into another building and fall to the ground, smashed. He angrily barked out an order to his warriors. Three trolls charged into the hut. Another clash, and another troll fell out the doorway and lay on the ground immobile. Clash. A human yelped. The being groaned at the ineffectiveness of his trolls and advanced towards the hut.
Inside the house, a man and a seventeen year old boy fought against the trolls. Three remained, and the father, whose name was Henry, had a painful wound on his left arm.
“David, I will block the other two outside! You take this one!” yelled the father. The boy lunged at the troll and slashed his sword across the troll’s side. The troll roared at David and swung his huge axe. David ducked the sweeping blow and stabbed upward. The troll groaned and fell to the ground with a thud. Henry was keeping the two others outside. He was not armed with a sword, only with a wood axe. However, this did not impede him, for he had slain another troll already. Suddenly, the last troll hit Henry in the chest with a fist. He flew through the air and crashed through the weakened back wall of the house.
“Helen! Go! Take Daniel and Anne to safety!” he rasped. He could not rise on account of his broken ribs. “Leave!”
Helen shook her head. “I will not leave you, Henry,” said Helen.
“Mommy, I’m scared!” Anne was eight years old and she was very frightened.
“I am too, Anne. You need to leave. Daniel!” A brown haired boy emerged from under the table where he had gone unnoticed. He looked to be fourteen.
“Yes, mother?”
“Take Anne and-” Helen broke off in a scream as the last troll began to approach her. She raised her arms for some pitiful protection, knowing that she could not stop the inevitable. Right before the troll struck, a harsh voice rang out.
“Tawqafa! Wadeih as’ujik!” The troll heard these words and stopped. The speaker of these harsh words then stepped into the hut. He was wreathed in shadow and dressed in solid black armor. The man, if that was what he was, was about six foot five and very, very imposing. The shadows around him swirled as he strode forward into the home. Henry knew what he was. He was one of the Shadowraiths, the scourges of this world and commanding officers in the forces of evil. David confronted him without knowing who he was facing. The dark haired teenager made a brave stand but was no match for the wraith. He raised his sword for a strike, but this was his undoing. The wraith stabbed forward and withdrew. David groaned in pain and fell to the ground.
“David!” Helen screamed. She dashed to his side. Before she reached him, the last troll grabbed her by the throat. Her feet left the ground as David lay on the ground. Daniel yelled at them and Anne cried. Daniel grabbed a broken leg from the family’s small table and ran at the troll. He raised his weapon and clubbed the troll in the back of the leg as hard as he could. The attack was not extremely harmful to the troll but it was so unexpected and surprising that the troll stumbled forward and dropped Helen. She gasped for breath on the ground. David spoke with difficulty to her.
“Mother….leave.” With his last strength, he swung his sword into the troll’s leg. It fell to the ground cradling its leg.
“Goodbye, David,” said Helen. She bid him a tearful farewell.
“Leave now, and you prolong your doom.” The wraith spoke for the first time. His voice was like a tomb, foreboding and void of life. It was deep and rich; beautiful, yet terrifying. It cut Helen to the heart with an icy spear.
“I am Vathran.”
Wow, these parts are so much shorter when I post them here.
-last edited on May 9, 2017 15:06:16 GMT by LegoBuilder
Post by LegoBuilder on May 9, 2017 15:05:00 GMT
“Creator help us,” she cried. “Henry? Henry!” He grimaced on the floor.
“Down here.”
“Oh, Henry!” she flew to his side. “First David, and now you!” she broke out in sobs.
“I’m not gone yet, Helen.”
“You should have stayed silent, Henry.” Vathran walked across the floor in long, heavy strides. His sword was drawn.
“Goodbye, Helen.” Vathran’s sword rose and fell.
“Henry!” she screamed.
“Mother, come on!” Daniel grabbed his mother’s hand and pulled her toward the exit. Helen allowed herself to be pulled and Anne followed her. Vathran lunged at Daniel but missed. The family ran out of the house as it went up in flames, and made a mad dash for freedom. Their pursuer walked out of the hut and saw them. He motioned to another wraith. It ran to him.
“What is your bidding, Lord Vathran?” he said after kneeling and saluting.
“Stop them.” Vathran gestured at Helen and the children. The other wraith laughed maliciously. He drew back a longbow and fired. It smashed Helen instantly. The thud alarmed Daniel and Anne who turned to see their mother lying on the ground. It stays dark for some time, lightens up when they meet a certain character, then gets darker. Young children should leave now.
-last edited on May 11, 2017 15:32:16 GMT by LegoBuilder
Post by LegoBuilder on May 11, 2017 15:31:58 GMT
“Mother!” cried Daniel. Anne grabbed his belt and held him back. “Let go of me!” he yelled. More arrows flew.
“Don’t leave, Daniel. I don’t want you to die too.” she whispered. Daniel turned towards his sister.
“Alright. Let’s go!”
“Will you carry me?”
“No! If I stop and carry you, we will move slower and they will kill us!” They ran into the forest. Arrows flew but none hit their target. Once safe inside the forest, Daniel climbed up a spruce tree and watched his village of Forlin burn. He saw trolls destroying houses and wraiths commanding them. Smoke rose from other clearings in the forest. Vathran’s forces were attacking strings of villages en route to Tolang to regroup and reinforce themselves. Daniel counted seven burning villages.
“Creator help them,” Daniel whispered. Suddenly, there was a shout below. A troll raised a crossbow and fired at Daniel. The bolt hit the branch he was standing on, shaking it. A startled Daniel lost his balance and fell screaming. He hit a thickly needled branch ten feet down which cushioned his fall before he slipped through it and fell another ten feet to the ground. Anne appeared in the edge of his vision. Her mouth was moving. Daniel’s vision grayed at the edges. His head hurt badly with a pounding ache. Maybe he should let go. Rest would feel so good and his body ached so bad. Daniel relaxed. His skull pounded one last time and everything went black. Thus ends the first chapter.
