“Like with magic?”
“Um, no…” Jacob trailed off as he tried to think of how best to describe them. “I… don’t really know how they work, but they don’t use magic.”
“Oh.”
“Anyway, it’s a nice place, though it has its own problems.”
“Like what?”
“Like the same kinds of problems that this world has: war, greedy people, politicians, crime… being in another world doesn’t mean the problems caused by humanity will disappear. It just means there are different humans committing the same crimes.”
Jacob had been young when he was summoned to this world. At twelve, he hadn’t much cared for world affairs, so he knew very little about what went on in his own world. However, his father had often complained about world events when he was watching the news.
“Did you like it there?” Enyo asked.
“I don’t know,” Jacob admitted. “It’s been so long since I’ve thought about my own world that I can barely remember how I felt when I was there.” He paused. “But… I do want to go back. If nothing else, I would like to see my family again.”
“I see. Family, huh?” Enyo’s lips turned down, her eyes growing distant. “I can understand why you’d want to reunite with them. You were taken away from your family when the White Council summoned you here.”
“Yeah, I was.”
Another awkward silence settled over them. Fortunately, it was broken quickly. Unfortunately, what broke it was a violent roar from outside.
“Sounds like the trolls are here.” Jacob leapt to his feet, put on his boots, and grabbed Durandal. Also standing up, Enyo put on her own boots and strapped her daggers to her back. He gave her a look. “You ready?”
“Yes.” She nodded.
“Then let’s go.”
Together, he and Enyo rushed out of the hut to face down the creatures that had been terrorizing this hamlet.
***
Trolls were hideous creatures. Created centuries ago during one of the many wars against a dark lord, these creatures were bred solely for the sake of destruction. The dark lord had used them against humanity ti great effect. The ones that confronted Jacob and Enyo were no different.
Towering over everyone there like massive trees, a trio of trolls lumbered forward on thick legs that were three times wider than Jacob. Their massive hands smashed into the wooden fence. Wood scattered everywhere and the people near that section were sent flying. Ugly maws filled with equally disgusting teeth opened to unleash fierce roars, which sent the men and women of the village scurrying. Green skin glimmered in the low light provided by the moon.
“Do you know how to kill a troll?” Jacob asked. Enyo shook her head. “There are several ways. Cut off their heads, light them on fire, or destroy them with black magic.”
Black magic was the easiest way to kill a troll. One dark flame would incinerate such a creature. However, Jacob didn’t want Enyo doing that. It would give her away as a dark clansman.
“Let’s avoid using black magic, if possible,” Jacob continued. “If you can distract one of the trolls, I can take out the first two.”
“What if I kill the first troll before you?” Enyo challenged.
Jacob raised an eyebrow. “If you think you can, then be my guest.”
Since they had met, Enyo had acted, not meek, but she hadn’t been very competitive or fierce either. Gentle. That was the best word he could think of to describe how she had been acting. Now, with the moonlight casting a pale glow, and the roar of trolls blasting their ears like a war horn, Enyo’s grin contained a fierceness that he hadn’t seen before.
“I’ll let you distract one of the trolls,” she said before taking off.
Jacob felt his competitive spirit rise. “Not if I kill mine first!”
The three trolls varied in size, with two being about the size of a one-story building and the other standing a head above that. They were clumped together as they entered through the smashed fence—at first. Once they were inside, they branched off to cause more destruction.
Jacob went after the biggest one.
“You ready, Durandal?”
“Hell, yeah I’m ready! Let’s do this!”
Durandal slid from its sheath with a hiss as Jacob grabbed the sword’s handle and pulled. The sound of grinding steel was overpowered by the roaring of three trolls. His footsteps likewise went unheard.
Power flowed through Jacob’s arms and into Durandal as he channeled his energy. His muscles became stronger, and Durandal, which was as much a part of him as his own limbs, became sharper as it was encased in a fiery blue glow.
The troll never noticed him until it was too late. Jacob swung Durandal as he ran past the troll, meeting only a slight resistance before the blade slid through flesh, muscle, and bone. The troll roared as its left leg was severed. Blood gushed from the stump, spurting out like paint being splashed onto a canvas.
As it fell, Jacob skidded to a stop, spun around, and then leapt onto the creature’s back. Before the troll could regenerate, he sliced through its neck. Like a peeling apple, the troll’s head slid off its shoulders. The now headless corpse then crashed into the ground with a thunderous clash as Jacob leapt off, landing several meters from the defeated monster.
He turned around to see how Enyo was doing.
He was shocked by what he saw.
Enyo had already killed one of the trolls. It lay on the ground, its body inert, its limbs sprawled out at awkward angles. Jacob couldn’t see how it had been killed, but it was clearly dead.
Her cloak discarded, Enyo was fighting the last remaining troll, and she looked like she was enjoying herself, if the grin she wore was any indication. She wove between a hail of furious fists as the troll attempted to pound her into the ground like a butcher hammered meat. Yet no matter how many times the troll swung its fist, nothing could hit Enyo, who danced across the ground like a fleeting breeze.
Jacob was amazed. He considered himself rather fleet-footed, and indeed, judging by her current speed, he could actually move quicker than her. That said, he lacked her grace. She was elegance epitomized. The way she moved was beautiful, a deadly dance the likes of which he’d never witnessed.
With an earth-shattering roar, the troll lunged for Enyo, who moved into a series of back handsprings. On the last handspring, she crouched low. Enhancing his vision, Jacob could see the way her thigh muscles bunched. Then she leapt. Her jump took her high into the air, over the troll, whose shoulder she landed on. Without ceremony, she plunged her daggers into the creature’s head.
There was no cry of agony, no roar of pain or anger. The troll’s eyes rolled up into its head. It stumbled about in a drunken manner before it fell. Enyo flipped off its shoulder as it crashed into the ground, landing in a crouch as the troll twitched several times before going still.
Durandal whistled. “Damn. Wouldn’t want to get on her bad side.”
“You said it,” Jacob agreed.
“Still, just imagine it. If she’s that fierce on the battlefield, she must be a monster in the sack.”
Jacob could feel heat rise to his cheeks. “Do you never shut up?”
“Course not.”
“Tch.”
Walking over to the discarded cloak, he picked it up and wandered up to Enyo. He glanced at her daggers. They were black and covered in cracks.
“That was impressive,” he complimented.
Now that the battle was over, Enyo’s smile regained its normal compassionate mien. “Thank you. I saw some of your battle as well. I had no idea you were strong enough to cut through a troll so easily. It looked like you were slicing through parchment.”
He wasn’t that strong. Most people assumed that his abilities came from pure brute strength, but that wasn’t it at all.
“Thanks.” Jacob glanced at the troll that Enyo had just killed. There were two perfectly circular holes in its head. “You used magic channeling to beat them, didn’t you?”
Mag
ic Channeling was the act of channeling magic through a weapon to enhance them. Depending on the type of magic a person had, they could do things like encase their weapon in fire, shoot out blades of wind, pierce any substance known to man, etc. Since Enyo was likely using darkness magic, her swords had annihilated the trolls’ brains. Of course, since she had used darkness magic, there was a backlash.
“I did.” Enyo seemed surprised. “How can you tell?”
“Well, for one, there’s no way those blades could pierce through that hide. For another…” he glanced at her daggers. “… you may want to take a look at your weapons.”
“Huh?”
Blinking several times, Enyo didn’t seem to understand what he was talking about. She nevertheless brought up her blades and looked at them. Her eyes widened. Then, as if to mock her, the cracked and blackened blades suddenly shattered, leaving only two bladeless hilts behind.
“It looks like we’re gonna have to buy you another pair of daggers,” Jacob observed coolly.
Enyo’s despairing wail echoed across the small hamlet.
INTERLUDE II
AN EAGER KNIGHT
Caslain Calahan was a young knight, the youngest to have ever earned the title of paladin. After he’d turned sixteen, which was the age of adulthood, he joined the knights and toiled for three years to prove himself. Through his blood, sweat, and tears, he eventually rose to the top, paladin, the highest rank someone could achieve without being a noble.
The person who had inspired him to become a knight was Jacob Stone.
Jacob Stone was a boy who, at the age of thirteen, slayed the Dark Lord Alucard and became a hero. Caslain could still remember the first time he’d ever seen the young hero. The newly minted Queen Alice had just announced that the war had ended, a parade was being held in honor of the hero who had made it possible, and Caslain, only fourteen at the time, had eagerly attended to catch a glimpse of this renowned hero.
He’d been shocked to discover that the hero was nothing but a boy—younger than him even! To think that there were people like Jacob who were already accomplishing heroic deeds at such an age! It had moved Caslain to tears. That was when he had decided to become a knight. He had dreamed of one day becoming a paladin, traveling to distant lands, and fighting alongside his hero.
Then Jacob had left. There had been no word, no warning, nothing. One day he’d been there, and the next he was gone.
Caslain had been torn.
Rather than let this get to him, he’d let it motivate him. If Jacob was gone, then Terrasole would need a new hero, and he was determined to be that hero. It was this motivation that led him to excelling past his peers, becoming a paladin in three short years.
And now, here he was, a paladin, and he was being asked to find Jacob, his hero.
It was like a dream come true.
Commander Bayard had personally requested his aid in this, and of course, there was no way he would turn such a task down. This wasn’t just an important quest that he was being sent on. This was his dream.
Jacob’s last known location was Albany, a free city located several leagues north west of Alyssium. It would take about a month to get there by foot, three weeks to get there by horseback. It took Caslain and his squadron three days.
Caslain was not just a paladin. He was a member of the Drakon Brigade. They were drake riders, an aerial unit that fought while riding drakes. What took a horse weeks to travel at a quick trot, it only took a drake a few days. They were just. That. Fast.
Wandering through the streets of Albany, Caslain, decked in resplendent silver armor, searched for a sign of his hero. Two of his men were with him. Their armor, like his, clanked as they walked. The rest were at the nearby fortress with their drakes. Apparently, the squadron that was stationed there were the ones who’d initially located Jacob while chasing after a criminal.
Fate must have brought that squadron to Jacob. Yes. It was fate, just like it was fate that Caslain would be the one to find Jacob and bring him back.
“Excuse me!” he boomed as he walked up to a pair of civilians. “Do any of you know of a man named—h-hey! Where are you going?!”
Caslain stared in shock as the two, an old couple, ran away screaming. What was their deal? Were they criminals? That must have been it. They were criminals who were on the run and became frightened when they saw him. Hmph! Those people were lucky that he had better things to do than catch petty crooks. He was on a mission from the queen herself!
It took Caslain nearly two hours of having people run away to find someone who was willing to answer his question.
“You lookin’ fer Jacob, eh. I know him. Most people ‘round here know him.”
The man that spoke was gnarled, not old, but grizzly. Scars lined his face, pale white lines against dark brown skin. They mixed with stress wrinkles to create an odd network. His clothing was threadbare, though he did have some nice armor and a sword.
A mercenary.
“Where can I find him?” Caslain asked in a booming voice.
“If ye don’t keep that voice of yers down, I won’t tell ye!” Caslain closed his mouth. “Good. If ye lookin’ fer Jacob, ye can find his tavern by going down this street, and then takin’ a left. It’s got a big sign of a man holdin’ a mug o’er his head. Ye can’t miss it.”
A tavern? Did Jacob live in a tavern now? How appalling! A hero should not be in some tavern. They needed to live in a mansion if not a castle!
“Thank you, good sir!”
“Ye won’t be thanking me fer long.” The man cackled. “Jacob ain’t there no more. Couple o’ his regulars busted inside when the tavern didn’t open to find that he upped and vanished. He’s gone. Ain’t nobody knows where he is now.”
For just a moment, Caslain felt like an ogre had punched a hole through his chest. Jacob? Gone? But they hadn’t even met yet?! However, just before he could feel true despair, Caslain hardened his resolve. If the Jacob had left, then it merely meant that he needed to expand his search. He would return to his unit and have them spread out a net. If Jacob was traveling on foot, then it shouldn’t take long to find him.
Come hell or high water, Caslain would return his hero to Alyssium—even if it killed him!
CHAPTER 3
THE GREAT EQUALIZER
Despite the trolls finally being slain, the village did not celebrate. No great party was held, no feast prepared. Most of their village had been wiped out before he and Enyo had even arrived, so it was understandable that they would feel no joy at the trolls’ demise. Instead, the villagers had gathered their wounded and dead, and spent the rest of the night either burying their dead, tending to the wounded, or repairing the destroyed fence and houses.
He and Enyo had only stayed for the night. When the sun rose, the two packed their bags and left, traveling south east.
It took two days to reach the next city by foot, which meant that he and Enyo had been subjected to two undead attacks.
Undead were the reanimated corpses of people and creatures. Long ago, a powerful dark lord whose magic was necromancy had cursed the land of Terrasole, making it so that the dead would rise. Unless the remains were sanctified, and then cremated, anything that was killed would eventually come back. Fortunately, there had been no humans among those they faced. It was just animals.
They reached the next city within two days.
Unlike Parvus, which had been little more than a hamlet, Altus was massive—comparatively. It reminded him a lot of Albany. Large buildings were squashed together, made of brick and wood, with thatched roofs colored red, black, or tan. Between the buildings were cobblestone streets. There were many people traveling down these streets, and several carriages passed by as he and Enyo blended into the traffic.
“Are we going to find an inn?” asked Enyo. Because there were so many noisy people, she had to talk directly into his ear to be heard.
Jacob shook his head and turned to speak. “Not yet. The first thing we need to do is buy a det
ailed map of the Phantasma Forest. I’ve been there once before, but it was so long ago that I barely remember anything about it. Also, Phantasma Forest is huge. I never reached Kyöpelinvuori, so you had to have traveled through a different part of the forest than I did.”
Enyo nodded as she wove passed someone who nearly bumped into her shoulder. This place was so lively that if they weren’t careful, they’d be run over.
“Where can we find a map like that?”
“There are several places,” Jacob answered, pointing to a large sign hanging off a building. It was a very basic building made of bricks. The sign said The General Store in bold print. “General stores like this usually sell maps. We just have to find one that sells a map of the forest.”
“Mmm mphm mm mm!” a loud clattering was heard even over the noisy din of several hundred people.
“Did you hear something?” Jacob asked innocently. He kept firm hand on Durandal’s hilt.
Enyo’s lips twitched. “No.”
“Mmmph!”
“Me neither.”
With a goal set, the two traveled to several general stores and asked their clerks if they had any maps of Phantasma Forest. They didn’t. In fact, whenever Jacob asked about the forest, they would clam up and kick them out, and no amount of bartering made them change their minds.
Jacob had contemplated asking Enyo if she could butter the clerks up. She was gorgeous, jaw-dropping even. Having once nearly been assassinated by a woman who excelled in seduction, he knew well how a little sex appeal could go along way. He decided not to go that route. Not only would it have been rude to ask that of Enyo, but she was wanted. There were already several posters with her face pinned onto quest boards and walls.
In the end, they couldn’t find a store that sold a map of the Phantasma Forest.
“What should we do now?” asked Enyo.
It took him a moment, but he eventually decided on their next course of action. “We need to learn why everyone becomes frightened when we bring up the Phantasma Forest. Let’s find a tavern that has an inn. We’ll rent a room for the night, then spend some time in the tavern to gather information.”
Journey of a Betrayed Hero- Volume 1 Page 7
