I re-edited this post to make it easier to read, and fixed some grammatical errors, please leave comments, and some constructive criticism.
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One Dark Night
Chapter 1: The Chanting and Flickering
An adventure, a sea of neverending, an unplanned life. That is what Relin saw everytime he peered over the window ledge, and into the moonlit horizon. The night was cold, colder than usual Relin thought to himself. He decided to latch his window shut. He got up out of his finely knit comberry bed. He had the window halfway latched when he heard a noise, it was indistinct at first, but then it began to repeat itself in an organized fashion. The sound as timed as the ticks of a clocktower. The noise grew from a faint incomprehendable sound to what sounded like a slow and steady chant. Relin swung his widow back open. He looked out only this time not at the horizon, it seemed the sound was coming from the east. He didn't see anything, but could still hear the rhythmic chanting. He looked toward the eastern mountains and began to see shadows cast on them, he could tell the shadows were being cast by torches, because of the constant and chaotic flickering. He wondered what a party of soldiers would be doing in Gnisis. There was already an imperial fort. Fort Darius. Relin was sure that half of the soldiers were stationed at Red Mountain to guard the newly discovered ore mines. The other half were all asleep in their homes or barracks. He knew this because his father was in the Legion. Relin ruled out the theory of the flickers in the distance being imperial guards, he continued to watch the chanters as they moved closer to the sleeping town. He thought about going downstairs and waking his father up, but if all of this was nothing, than he would surely be punished. He decided to just keep watching. The group was only about one hundred feet away from the town now. He could see all of them now, he counted about seventy. The majority of them appeared to be wearing foreign clothing. It appeared to be made of some kind of cheap, organic material. Mixed in with the foreign chanters were about ten figures dressed in completely black clothing, their eyes appeared to be glowing red. The word sanguine came to Relins mind. The figures continued their march forward they were now in the center of town. One of the cloaked figures marched up to the forefront of the crowd. At the same instant that he faced the crowd of chanters, the chanting ceased. Gnisis was dead quiet. The lone figure at the front began to talk. His voice was loud and sure. "Brothers we have completed our journey, we have arrived at what will be the first of many victory sites, lets take the town swiftly, and unforgivingly." The figure turned around so his back was facing the crowd and his eyes were facing Relin. It was dark in his room on the second story, but he could of sworn the figure looked right at him, his eyes, his red eyes,his...sanguine eyes forever burned into Relin's memory. The figure then pulled out his sword, a long pitch black blade that could be seen only by the reflection of the moon. He then said three last words,
"SHOW NO MERCY!"
He charged into the town followed by the dozens of warriors, who replaced their previous chanting with a wretched battle cry.
Relin ran for the door, he slipped down the stairs and into the dining room, slammed through his father's bedroom door. His father blasted up out of bed
"whats wrong!" his father yelled.
"Raiders in the village."
His father stared at him wide eyed.
"I can hear them." his father muttered.
"Wake up your brother, you and him hide in the cellar.
"I want to help you Pa!" Relin shouted.
"Go now!" his father retorted.
Realizing that was the smart thing to do, Relin ran back up the stairs into his brother's room.
"Bow, get up quick!" He screamed,
"Its not even morning yet Relin, what do you want?"
Relin was about to explain when his brother asked,
"Relin whats that sound?" Relin loudly replied back,
"Raiders!" Bow jumped out of bed. He pulled on his boots and grabbed his steel shortsword from under his bed. The brothers got up to run downstairs when they heard the most horrid sound they had ever heard. It was the shriek of a woman in agony. They looked out of the window and saw that several of the town's houses were on fire and their residents the same. The brothers ceased moving and were caught by the dramatic and horrible seen laid out before them.
"This cannot be happening." Bow said half-heartedly.
"I dont believe it either." Relin mournfully replied. All of the sudden bow slid his shortsword out of its scabbard.
"I am going to be a part of this." He said talking to himself.
"No Bow dad wants us to wait in the cellar. Thats the safest thing." Relin replied.
"But is it the right thing?" Bow answered, with a slight heroic tone him. Relin was about to give Bow some more reasons not to go when they heard footsteps running up the stairs.
"Hide!" Yelled Bow.
"There is no need to hide fellows." A familiar voice answered.
"Its your father." The boy's now armored father answered.
"Dad I am fighting with you." Bow said, muskering up just enough courage.
"No you're not." His father replied back, a hint of anger in his voice.
"Dad I am old enough to make this decision now, I want to fight."
"If you fight who'll watch your brother?" His father replied.
"Relins old enough to watch himself Pa, hes 15 years old." Relin knew where this was going.
"You can't possibly think of letting him fight Pa." Relin said, knowing he would soon be all alone in the cellar.
"Your brother is old enough to fight now, you get to the cellar now, we'll be back soon." Relin's eyes started to tear up, so he ran downstairs to the cellar. He didn't know if he would ever see his family again.
Chapter 2: The Cellar
Bow sat alone on the frosty ceramic tiles of the cellar floor. He'd been sitting there alone, in the pitch black for about an hour. Why'd he let him go? Father was so adamant about Bow staying before why did he suddenly change his mind? Bow sat in silence for a moment. He started to realize something. He hadn't heard any noise for some time. He wondered to himself if it was ok to go outside. He slowly got up. He put both of his hands in front of him, and slowly felt around, he moved his feet about as slow as they could move. He felt like a blind man. After about 5 minutes of feeling around, and not really knowing where he was he found the door handle. Relin slowly put his ear to the worn old mahogany door. He didn't hear anything. There was no footsteps, no yelling, no screaming, nor was there any chanting. He decided it was safe to leave the confines of the cellar. His first instinct was to run outside and shout for his father and brother, common sense denied him that. Relin trecked to the kitchen and grabbed one of the many knives that were laying around. He then crept over to the front door, trying to make as little noise as possible. Relin cracked open the door just enough to see his surroundings.
Relin was about to walk outside when he was viciously pulled away from the door and slammed to the cold hardwood floor. Relin instinctively jumped back up off of the floor and took a fighting stance. He then noticed his assailant was one of the strangely dressed raiders. The raider threw Relin off guard when he started to speak
"I thought we murdered everyone in this god-forsaken town." To Relins surprise the voice was not that of a man but a young boy. The warriors strange mask concealed not only his face, but also his age. A second later reality hit Relin.
"Did you say you murdered everyone?" Relin asked a sick feeling beginning to lurk in his stomach.
"Well apparently not everyone, you're still alive." The strange boy pulled out a steel tanto and added two words to his previous statement.
"For now."
With that the young warrior pounced upon Relin. Relin was overtaken by the young warrior's tackle and was smashed to the ground his kitchen knive thrown from his hand. The knive landed tip buried in the hard wood floor. Relin struggling to breath pushed his assailant from him. Relin jumped back to his feet. The boy had already recoiled from being thrown off of him. The stranger had his tanto pointed straight at Relin. Relin decided his best chance was to run for the knife. The boy must have planned on this he swung his weapon at Relin's neck missing by no more than an inch. Relin dove to the floor and swept up his knife. The knife was alot less intimidating than a tanto but it was better than nothing. Relin ran towards his attacker, his attacker swung once again at Relin it missed once again. His opponent was recoiling. Relin took th chance to take a stab at him. His knife connected with the strangers arm creating a five inch gash. The boy hissed at Relin. The wounded boy dropped his weapon. Relin ran back towards him. This time he was aiming for the boy's stomach. The boy jumped out of the way narrowly dodging the knive. The boy was pulling himself off of the ground when Relin attacked again. He kicked the boy in the side of the knee. Relin heard a sickening "pop". The boy began to scream. Relin had broken his knee. Relin picked up the boys tanto off of the ground.
"I do not want to hurt you anymore so more so please stop fighting me." Relin said half out of breath.
"You're going to have to kill me then, because if not I will kill you." The immobilized boy replied through clenched teeth.
"How you can't even walk." Relin replied. In that instant the boy pulled out a hidden knive and stuck it into Relin's calf. Relin dropped down onto one knee. The boy grabbed the nearby window ledge to hoist himself up. He hobbled to the front door.
"I'll kill you another day." The boy said to Relin. At that moment Relin did an under normal circumstances "stupid" thing. He pulled the knife out of his calf. Raised it eye level, and let it fly. The knife landed just above the boy's shoulder blades, dead center in his neck.
The boy fell just three feet away from the door. He was on the ground now screaming, Relin hadn't killed him. Relin had paralyzed him. Blood was pouring out of the hole in the boys spine. Relin got off of his knee and limped outside towards his fallen foe.
"I cannot move!" The boy screamed.
Relin was scared now he had not meant to paralyze the boy. He had only meant to hurt him. The boy lay face down in the watery mud half crying, half screaming.
"I cannot move!' The boy repeated.
"I am sorry." Relin said, the boy did not appear to hear him. Relin did the only thing he could think of to stop the boys pain. He lifted the boy's steel tanto high above his head. The boy looked up at him though his strange mask and began to scream again
"No!" In one swift movement Relin brought the tanto down and buried it in the boys heart. Relin then fell to his knees and began to cry.
Chapter 3: Searching for Family
Relin looked at the boy's lifeless corpse, and wondered if he had any family, friends, or even a girlfriend. Relin wanted to know who he had killed. He reached over to the boys face and slowly slid his mask off. The boy was a dark elf, just as Relin was, he looked to be the same age as Relin also, his features were gentle, he had thin lips, and his hair was short and jet black, his eyes were closed Relin thanked Amalexia for that, he could not have been able to see the boys dead eyes staring at him. The boy's eyes were shut though, they were shut for eternity.
Relin decided to search for his father and brother, still saddened by what he had done. Relin had been walking around the ruins of what had minutes before been the thriving city of Gnisis, when he saw his father. He ran to his father's body it was laying over by a pile of rocks and burning hay. No sooner did Relin reach his father's corpse, before he realized his father's soul had departed. Relin looked at his father. His body was mangled, joints were bent in ways they were not supposed to bend, and this time he was not so lucky as to his father's eyes being closed. And indeed the eyes were looking right at Relin, but it was not scary, as he had previously thought. In his father's eyes Relin could see a warrior, a father, and a hero. Relin hugged the body of the best man he'd ever known, but this time he did not cry. This is the way he would have wanted to go, Relin thought to himself. Relin would search for his brother and then come back and make a proper burial. He got up taking one last look at his father, and continued his search.
Relin looked around the city as he searched. There were hundreds of bodies, there were raging fires, and there was darkness. Relin would have felt terrified, but he did not feel anything. All the things he had seen, and what he did, made it impossible for him to think clearly let alone feel emotion. No one was alive not one sould Relin had come across was still breathing. Relin was about to lose hope when he spotted his brother's steel shortsword on the ground next to him. He looked around that area. There were many bushes, he has to be in one of the bushes. He searched one bush, and then two, he came to one of the last he could see a limb hanging over it. Relin hoped to Azura it was his brother, when he arrived at the corpse he was not let down. There his brother lay still alive, and still breathing.
"Bow!" Relin shouted with a happiness he did think he could muster.
"Relin, is that you?" A long lost brother said, as if he was unsure.
"Bow, it's me don't you know your own brother when you see him?" It was only on arrival that Relin saw. Bows face was covered in blood, and where his eyes should have been there was only two blood encrusted, deep, empty sockets.
"Bow, who did this to you?" Relin asked sympathetically, dropping down to his knees next to his fallen brother.
"Well you see I didn't really get a good look at him." Relin's brother replied half laughing, half coughing blood. Relin did not think this was so funny.
"Dads dead, your blind and all you can do is make jokes?" Relin shouted at his brother.
"Dads dead?" Bow asked, more blood crawling down lips. "Yes, you didn't know?" Relin sorrowfully answered.
"No, I thought dad would pull through this in better condition than me." Bow answered, more quiet than previously.
"Bow we've got to get you out of here." Relin said, rising off of his knees.
"No, Relin I shall stay here." Bow said his voice ever softening.
"What are you talking about we have got to get out of here." Relin replied, beginning to feel more sadness.
"I am dying brother, you cannot save me."
"We can get you to Khuul, and let the healer tend to you." Relin said, trying to find hope in his words.
"I can't even stand up let alone trek through the mountains to get to Khuul." Bow replied, his voice barely audible now.
"Just promise me one thing Relin." Bow said his voice cracking, more blood pouring.
"Anything brother." Relin replied. Bow reached up and grabbed Relin's collar with the last of his remaining strength.
"Don't let this day fill your heart with aguish and vengeance."Bow asked, as he released Relin's collar.
"Can you promise...me that... brother?" Bow asked, drifting off in between words.
"I promise brother." Relin answered, picking up his brothers hand.
"I promise." he softly repeated. Moments later Relin felt bows slight grip release. Relin could feel his brother's soul as it left his body, and he wept.
Chapter 4: The Long Road
Shortly after burying his brother, and father, Relin decided to leave Gnisis and never return. He could not deal with the pain of seeing the town again. He wandered back into his broken home to gather supplies, he did not know where he was going, but he knew it was going to be far away from here. He stepped into his father's room it appeared to be unscathed from the night before. The first morning's light was pouring in through the uncracked window. Relin limped over to his father's armory. He grabbed a steel broadsword, his father's shortbow, and a couple of arrows. He then made his way over to his father's chest. The top creaked as he lifted it open. He pulled out his father's map of Vvardenfel, a satchel, a rangers cloak, and two leather gauntlets.
Relin sat on his father's bed, and slid the leather gauntlets on his hands. He put the cloak on over his head, and let the cape fall down his back. He then strapped the steel broadsword on over his shoulder. He sheathed his brother's tanto to his side, and put the quiver full of arrows on his back. He then spread the map out over the bed and began to decide where he would travel to. He slid his finger over the ancient map, over the weathered parchment, over the soft brown cracks and tears. He finger landed on Gnaar Mok, the small fishing island in the bittercoast region. He then rolled up the map and stuck it in the satchel. He left his home eager to reach his new destination, eager to begin his new life.
Relin traveled for days over the rocky plains of the West Gash Region, past Fort Berandas and Andasreth. Finally reaching the road that would lead him to his new home. The two week journey seemed to go by extremely fast in his mind. He slept in the forest, hunted for his food, and took baths in the nearby river's and lakes. Relin looked into the distance, he could see Gnaar Mok. He had only but to follow the muddy road for another ten minutes and he would reach his destination. A sudden thought occured to him. Where will I stay, I haven't any money, or any shelter. Relin continued on to Gnaar Mok thinking of how he was going to pay for a hotel room or food.
"Well don't come back here begging for your bloody job back lassie!" An angered Orc was yelling, to a muscular Redguard woman setting sail on a small boat.
"Oh, I won' t you overgrown, green, son of a scrib."
Relin had just reached Gnaar Mok.
"Bloody women, don't even have enough decency to tell warn you before they quit." The orc yelled, as he spit off of the dock.
"It'll take me weeks to find a new apprentice."
Relin started thinking.
"I could be your apprentice." Relin said without clearly thinking it through.
"Pardon me son, but I can't be having ten year olds running around in my forge now can I?" The orc said in an amused tone.
"Now why don't you run back home to Mommy and Daddy?" The orc said, a sense of arrogrance radiating off of his body.
"Well I would you see..." Relin started to speak.
"...but my mom ran away when I was two, and my father passed away a couple weeks ago." Relin replied.
"Well I am sorry for your loss boy but you're too young." The orc replied, sounding sorry.
"I will work for free, all I need is a place to stay." Relin said, trying to persuade the Orc.
The Orc eyed Relin.
"Do you have any experience working in a forge?" The Orc asked.
"I used to help out the armorer in town for some extra money" Relin replied.
"Well I suppose I could give you a temporary job, just to see if you can handle it." The Orc said sounding unsure if it was a wise decision.
"But if you can't, or you break something, or anything goes wrong, then you will be fired immediately."
Relin's face lit up.
"Thank you sir, I will work my hardest that is a promise."
"When do I start?" Relin asked.
"You start tomorrow at sunup, no later." The Orc replied,
"By the way my name is Shamok Gro Borren, and heres ten drakes for you a hotel room." The Orc said, handing Relin a small leather pouch.
"Remember no later than sunup." The Orc reminded, before walking back to his small smithy.
"Oh, by the way my name is Relin, and i'm fifteen." Relin shouted, the Orc just continued up the steps into his small home.
