The Royal Protector
Chapter 1
The sound of metal hitting metal was dominate in the night sky. It was coming from a cabin on the outskirts of the town of Vamoria. Anyone in the town could tell you who lived in this cabin. It was none other than J and Isabel Hawk. One would say that this would be one of their late night teaching sessions but tonight was different. Tonight, they were going to visit one of J's old friends, a man named King Trenton. They planned to leave that night for his castle.
Inside the cabin there was a big room with a forge in the middle. There stood Isabel Hawk in all of her beauty. She was quite tall for a woman; she was about six feet tall. Her features could be described as incredible. She had wavy black hair that seemed to gently blow in an imaginary breeze. While she forged she was in some sort of trance. Like everything she made in that forge was going to be the best thing she ever made, usually it is.
Across from were Isabel stood, a huge man sat, the one and only J. He was quite a sight to see. He had scars all on his face and neck and probably his chest as well. A man cannot live for eons and not be unscathed. He stared at the way Isabel worked the forge. In the nine years that they have been teacher and student, she had become the best forger he ever saw. She was just as equal in magic, almost nearing her teacher in skill. He recalled one time were Isabel had turned a man inside out and back just for insulting her. He laughed, the face he had was priceless, and J had never seen someone run away so quickly. J looked up and noticed that Isabel was done with her work. She dropped the piece of metal in a wooden box carefully and got a satisfying hissing sound in return.
After a minute, J reached his hand into the box and pulled out the piece of metal. It was a sword forged to perfection.
"Another perfect craft by the incredible Isabel Hawk." J said smiling.
"What can I say, I learned from the best." Isabel said quickly looking over her work while she set it into a handle.
"Your flattery is no use here Isabel." snorted J. "Anyways are you almost done, I would like to be at Trenton's castle by morning."
Isabel laughed mirthfully. "You seem so eager to get to him; people might get the wrong idea."
J groaned and rubbed the bridge of his nose then removed his hand smiling. "Do you need to be reminded of that duchess that wanted to marry you and you almost accepted."
Isabel reddened, "You know as well as I that she placed a spell on me!"
"Whatever you say my dear student, go get your stuff, we're leaving."
Isabel simply nodded and disappeared into another room to gather her equipment for the trip. J turned and walked into his room and shut the door. His room was covered in things he had collected over his life. A Spartan shield, scrolls from the Library of Alexandria, even swords of kings he had served under. However, he wasn't there to admire his extensive collection of memorabilia. J walked over to the wall near his bed and put his hand on the wall. Both his hand and the wall started to glow and it then disappeared. It was a handy little spell he had invented to hide his equipment.
Inside was a staircase that went down. J followed it and came upon a giant vault door. He had it installed when he first moved into the town. He put his hand against the vault door and it began glow like the wall. Immediately, it swung up to reveal row after row of swords, maces, whips, daggers, armor, you name it, it was probably there. He walked past the rows until he found a room attached to the armory. Inside were four items, four items that he treasured greatly. Inside was a cloak, two daggers and a long sword.
Each item had a story of its own and each unique in its own way. All items brought back memories, some of blood and great battle and some of great pain. They had been with him for many battles and wars. It was rare that he entered a fight without one of these items one his person. He put the daggers holsters at his waist and inserted the daggers in their appropriate holsters. He then slipped his cloak on which covered everything from his head to his legs only leaving his feet visible. To top it off, he had enchanted the cloak with a shadow spell so that every time his hood is up it would look like you were staring into complete darkness. He then grabbed his long sword, put it in its sheath and secured it upon his back. He then exited the armory, locking the vault and put the wall back.
Upon returning to the main room of the cabin, J found Isabel waiting for him. She was now wearing a leather cuirass with a suit of chain mail underneath. She had the sword she had just forged strapped to her back and a pair of heavyset gloves in case she lost her sword.
"Are you ready." said J as he picked up a lantern to help navigate the dark landscape.
Isabel gave a quick sigh, "As ready as I'll ever be."
J nodded and both walked out of the cabin. J locked the front door and they went on their way.
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After about a couple hours of walking, the duo stopped for a break. J quickly checked his surroundings and didn't like what he found. They were in a forest which should be full of wild life but nothing stirred. Not even the wolves were howling tonight. J then turned his attention to the moon; he noticed it was being covered in dark clouds. He wanted to shrug these happenings off as mere coincidence but he has lived for far too long and seen way too many things to simply let this go.
He quickly made his way over to Isabel who was sitting on a rotting log.
"We must make haste Isabel; there is something unsettling about this forest."
Isabel quickly stood up, "I agree, the owls and crickets have yet to make noise and it's pretty late at night."
"We should leave this forest and maybe find a different route."
"I agree." said Isabel as they both turned to head back. Instead of the forest path, they were met with a thick patch of fog that seemed to engulf the whole forest.
J sighed lightly, "Through the forest it is then."
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As they walked deeper into the forest, the sky grew restless. Thunder and lightning filled the nighttime sky with a symphony of booms and cracks. What was weird is that there was no rain. Through all of the loud booms and cracks, no rainfall was felt. J felt even more worried now.
"Isabel!" yelled J over the sounds of the coming storm. "I think something is wrong with this forest!"
"You think!" yelled Isabel with a hint of sarcasm.
"We need to leave before anything dangerous happen..."
Almost on cue, a bolt of lightning struck the ground next to J's feet. Instead of leaving a black char on the ground, the bolt left a yellow drawing in the shape of a rune. J moved closer to try to observe it and see what kind of rune it was. He was stopped when another bolt of lightning struck again, but this time it was a couple feet to his left. Suddenly, more bolts started to strike and leave more runes. It stopped when they were both surrounded by runes.
J and Isabel were now back to back with their weapons drawn. They both were ready for the enemy that was waiting to strike. That enemy never showed. After some time the storm calmed but the runes stayed. J sled his long sword back into its holster and quickly made his way over to one of the runes. He looked them over and didn't even recognize what they were. He knew all types of runes ranging for Viking Runes to Orlanthi Runes. He knew some Nordic and old Germanic Futhark. These however, were unlike anything that he has ever seen. His studies were interrupted by a terrified Isabel.
"What's the problem?" J asked without looking away from the rune.
"L..l..look." Isabel said weakly.
Isabel's reaction is what caught J's attention. She rarely got scared and when she did, it was always from something bad. J brought his head up slowly and looked at what Isabel was pointing at. What he saw brought him to his feet and he walked over to Isabel. The thing that was standing in front of them was a giant sphere the same color of the runes on the ground. J could feel the magic radiating off of it, whatever it was. J wanted to get closer but that interest was diminished when one of the runes shot a beam at the sphere. Slowly each rune started to do the same until they were all connected to the sphere. The sphere started to glow brighter and pulsate. J immediately began to panic; he knew it was going to cause some kind of damage if it kept doing that. He then turned to Isabel.
"Run, now!"
They both turned and dashed towards the direction they came from. It was too late; the sphere got brighter and pulsated faster and then let out a blinding yellow light that slowly engulfed the two. The last thing J remembers was a slight falling sensation and darkness.