A Story Of Sword And Shield, Book one. by Chance c Barrett (that summer book .txt) 📖

at me suspiciously as if I was a criminal of some sort -- which was an understatement – “I forgot to introduce my-self, excuse me. My name is Lamina Night of the northern outpost; I was going to ask some information of you.” I said, trying to add the information part as if it was no detail. “Well—Lamina, what information would that be? I do not offer much information, as you can tell I am not one of the events here, that information would best be left with Sky, one of my close friends, he knows more about those things than I” silver said, as if my question was hopefully answered by that. “Well, no, I do not wish tales of the land at the moment, I wish to know about something you may be able to help me with, raising the dead?” I said, staring intently at silver, hoping that I would not get called insane by merely mentioning that.
“I am sorry, but that is a task not of my range, you could ask Darkflame of the south, he would know surely!” silver said, surprisingly eagerly. “I—I know Darkflame, in-fact… between us, I work for him, in part any-way. But if he knows I shall ask, thank you for your time Madame, I may ask of your assistance later if the time comes, but until then, au revoir.” I gave a short nod then walked toward one of the small living quarter areas, which to be honest were no more than two or so tents bound together with bedding made of various leaves in the tent areas. But, it was better than the unprotected emptiness of the town that I had grown almost accustomed to, so I lay down, wondering if I could ever make this all right again, then I fell asleep.
Chapter 6: The nightmare… ends?
Date:
I awoke suddenly, and then gasped checking myself for wounds, nothing. “just a nightmare” I told myself as I stood, but it was then I noticed, I was no longer in the living area, I was in the temple again, my arm suddenly stabbed me with pain, I looked at it and it was freshly cut, what was going on here?
Everything seemed normal, exactly as it was before all of this, but how was that possible? Slowly I looked around, hoping my surroundings would give me a clue, but it did not, yet I saw dozens of people walking around me. How could this all be? They were dead, missing, gone. I walked to the nearest guard and asked “where am i?” the guard smiled at the comment as if it were a joke “drank a little too much did you now? You are in the northern outpost of the Golden Wolves of course!” I stared, wide-eyed “the northern outpost… are you sure?” I asked, shocked. “As sure as the sun is bright.” He said, and then turned to continue his duties. “Thank you sir…” I said quietly as I left. So all of that was a dream? But it felt so real… It was then the soldier who had given me my insignia had approached me “Hello there new guy, I was trying to find you, I hope you are okay, that blade I used seemed to have some poison on it from our last battle, and when I noticed it was too late and I got worried, it causes lots of problems you know? Well at least you are okay, I think, how are you doing?” he said quickly. “I—I am fine” I said, slowly shaking my head in disbelief.
“Well that’s good to hear, anyway I have to be back to my duties, why not admire the sun light outside for a moment or two, to catch your breath?” he said. At this I nodded eagerly and went outside of the temple. It was warm, the sun was shining and not a cloud hung in the sky, even the wind was but a slight breeze in my hair, I rejoiced in this and took in a deep breath, letting it out only when I could hold it no-longer, it is all going to be okay! I thought to myself, striding happily back inside, “hello, hello everyone! I am back at last! And you are all safe!” I exclaimed into the main corridor of the temple, I got a few strange looks but other than that was paid no more attention to than normal, “they just need time to remember, that’s all” I said to myself.
It was odd though, because even though it had passed many more moments than it took for the sun to lower, it remained in the exact place it was before, though maybe it was just my imagination playing tricks on me again, so I ignored that too as I went outside, readying for my patrol. Later that ‘day’ while on patrol I heard a familiar voice, I turned the corner of the path to meet from where the voice came and with a shock, saw that it was my own voice, and the person I was facing was me the day all of the strange things started! The second me looked at me in shock and confusion, we both approached each other, slowly as to ready our weapons. We stared wordlessly for a moment then both drew our swords almost yelling “who are you?!” to which we both responded “I am Lamina Night!” we sliced out swords toward each other, yet since we were the same all our moves were blocked perfectly by the others. Once we gave up with what was obviously worthless we began asking questions, of which were “where did you come from?” “How did this happen?” “Are we dreaming?” none of which got a proper response, but at least it kept our weapons down.
Hours passed, I had decided to leave this “other self” be, now my question was what was going on and how can I solve it, so I went to the only place I could think of to seek answers, Darkflame himself. Once I arrived at the New Order outpost I found no one there, odd but it did not deter me so I decided that maybe since it from what I could tell the time was that of before I joined the Order that I would have to wait until my other self went to the New Order and that was when I would get my answers, so I waited, and waited, then after what seemed like an eternity my other self left to join the order, so I followed and once he arrived in the New Order headquarters I confronted Darkflame “What is happening here?! Why are there two of me?! Why does nothing change, not even the sky?!” I demanded. “The answers to all of your questions are simple, this is just a delusion, you are not actually back where you started, you just want to be” he said matter-of-factly. I refused this and told him that there was no way that this was a delusion, it was too real. Then he in what seemed like slow-motion took out a dagger and stabbed me through the heart, I felt no pain though, and closed my eyes.
Chapter 7: The first sacrifice.
Date: January 31st 1471
I cannot say I was disappointed when I woke up, rather I was grateful that I was not dead, that I was not trapped in a world where the sun never set, but I was shocked slightly when I noticed that only moments had passed since I went to sleep and when I woke up, but I decided that I did not want to sleep anymore and just wanted to shake off the strange dream to continue with my pursuit. After gathering my wits I stood up and gathered what little gear I had left after all of this, and honestly, what I had, was my home and what was left of my family, and I reflected on this for a moment before going back out into the world that awaited me. I found ‘silver’ once more and decided I would say my good-byes, even though I did not speak much or get much help from the strange person. “Excuse me, I was just leaving and would like to bid you a fare-well before I left…” I said casually, yet my voice sounded tired, probably the lack of sleep. “Leaving? So soon? As do most of the good people that pass through here, I understand, but I was thinking about what you said earlier, and there is another way, but it requires the death of two other members of the same family that you belong to, and also a sacrifice of your own, part of your very soul to be exact.” Silver said, almost business-like. “It does sound troubling, but if it can bring them back, I will do whatever it takes” I said. “It is good that you care so much about these people, but how will you perform this ritual without help? You cannot. But I can travel with you, and help you with this” Silver replied, looking at me questioningly. “I appreciate your help, but I do not know if it is safe to travel with others… there are many people who would kill anyone near me just for spite.” I said with a sigh. “Worry not, i can tell when people are following us, and I know this forest more well than most, and could help you escape before they can see us!” Silver said. “Well, that is true… I could always use some help” I nodded “you are welcome to come with me on this journey to the depths of the forest, and perhaps even to the depths of hell it-self if it takes, anything to bring them back!” I said, and then we left, off to find the first of two of my own bloodline.
Traveling through the forest with my new “guide” if you will has helped me much, silver was right, she does have extensive knowledge of this forest, and even I would have gotten lost many times if it was not for the advice I had been given. Now I am even closer to finding out how to bring them back, I can picture it now, we will all be back together, it will be like it was before Draco made his insane rebellion and forced me to have to kill him, and before my father died before my eyes. Of course their lives require two other lives, but I do not care for the rest of the family much, they had not been in my child-hood as much and therefore have little meaning to me, that does not how-ever change the fact that they are family, and killing family is not a good way to show the spirits what kind of person you are, but I am doing it all in good faith, right?
We arrived at a cave on the far western part of the forest, it took us three days from the outpost to get there, but I knew this is where one of my brothers lived, his name was Golden-Fang, he was a lieutenant in the Golden wolf army, he spent most of his days here though, why I never understood, but he made no real contribution to anything around him I figured, so the world could understand his death. Walking into the cave I noticed that it was decorated with leafs and strange colored substances made from various plants in the region, yet all these were merely distractions and I continued looking for my soon to be dead brother, and I found him, asleep, that made this all the easier!
I had drew my knife and put it to his neck, I waited for the moment he awoke