The Sword (Not finished)

Chapter one: Divines bless you
“There are thirteen divine Gods...Maiko the god of death and life, creator and burier of our souls and bodies. Raven the goddess of elementals, she rains when sad...storms when angry and creates earthquakes when furious. Nar’rack the god of desire,pain and pleasure he creates what mortals wants for their immortal bargain chip, their soul. Nytefire the goddess of luck and darkness she stalks our shadows following us when we know not, Gobon commands our bodies to rest and dances in our dreams, he is known to play with our darkest temptations and make light of our happiest moments. Neplite controls the flow of magic coursing through peoples veins, she favors none and treats all fairly her duty is to judge us before our death and decide if it is our time. Razaul creates havoc and chaos where his eyes set, spreads plague and disease like blood in our veins he even goes so far as to set curses upon adults and infants alike. Nocturnal blesses our shots into the beasts she has created, gifts us with reward when we succeed in her hunts. Pov attends the farming and convinces Raven she must rain for our crops and spare us from her wrathful earthquakes, he keeps peace between the divines with his superior but crazy mind. Zel rages in war and gives heart to the brave soldiers who fight on the front line, guiding every stroke and every slash with her help we win war but with her war we fight a futile battle to the end. Titus protects our body with our shields and gives us the chance to avoid a killing blow, he watches over our back when we cannot and strives to save us from what we see not. Ari and Ria provide retribution and forgiveness, they both must work in tandem with one another to accept the sacrifices we make and bring peace with Pov to the others. Though they are known to rain fire and with Raven create storms that destroy entire cities in one night, Kira controls the sea alone and speaks to none but Ari and Ria his daughters whom convince him regularly to send the fearful storms we know as typhoons to show he is not yet silent in all.”

With that Gregory closed the thick golden paged book, looking to the young teenager whom had fallen asleep on the floor. Even in the boys later years he still managed to fall asleep after requesting Gregory to read, out of rudeness or simple tiredness. He knew not yet, nor did he want to ask as it seemed worthless to know in any case. Standing he strolled over to the large oak bookcase and slid the large hundred some paged book back into its slot, throwing a wool blanket over the boy he then hobbled over to his own bed falling effortlessly into it and nearly falling asleep on contact..though before he fell asleep he whispered “Divines bless you Leo, sleep well and wake better.” then the old man passed out into a soundless sleep.

Leo awoke the next morning to sounds of a fight, arising quickly still dressed in his ragged brown breeches and white shirt that was buttoned down the middle, Leo moved across the cabins main room to the window in the corner watching out to see Gregory arguing rather loudly with three soldiers and a high-ranking official that he recognized from posters in the big city saying “Clark wants you! Join the Alliance and fight for your country-men, squash the Republic!” he could only assume that the man with soldiers were here for recruiting him...Gregory was too old. As Leo was about to find some more formal clothing and go out to see what Clerk wanted, though as he turned he heard a sword un-sheath and turned back to the window. Only to see the elitist black straight blade that weighed nothing to the wielder but struck like stone, the blade had gone flat-side and struck Gregory on the side of the head. The holder of the blade was none other than the Clerk himself, Leo quickly moved to the bed that Gregory slept in and withdrew the nothing too special training iron sword that kept a simple handle, handguard and straight blade to a deadly point though the blade itself it generally is used for training practices against wooden targets; leaving it dulled.
Coming out with a forced budge to the door he was upon the official and his protection squad, swinging the dull edges at the speed Leo could would still break bones and be fatal if it contacted a neck or skull. His slash was flawed in the essence it came to much with emotion and the need to attack without thinking, though the soldier he attacked managed to side-step and slam his elbow into the charging Leo’s back. Winded he arose and before Clerk could speak the three soldiers had surrounded him and drew their blades commanding him to lay down his weapon, he however only slashed violently to the right clipping a soldiers elbow completely shattering it by the sound the soldier viciously cussed, before the two others whipped their blades down at him and Leo managed to fend off the first slash and then dodge the second. Clerk shouted “Get that boy, don’t you dare slay him or I will execute you where you stand!” Leo panted hard looking down at Gregory and that was the last thing he saw. His mistake had been taking his eyes off the targets, the guard behind him that he struck in the elbow had taken up a log that was chopped earlier and cracked him in the back of the skull.

...You will wield my blade young one...


Leo awoke in a strange place and even stranger yet there was nothing in the room with him either, or at least from his vision. Everything was dark or he was blindfolded, he could not tell much as none of his senses really had came back yet...he was dull in every way at this point until he finally managed to roll about in what he believed was a straw bed. Painfully he had fallen out and landed on cement flooring, definitely not home Leo thought as he arose rubbing his neck and the back of his head. The room he was in contained a straw bed over a cot with the only light source being a rather dim candle and a solid door of metal which had a sliding wooden piece that was only openable from the outside, walking to it cautiously and still not sure what had happened he called “Hello?...Hello!...” he sighed sitting back down on the cot and thinking, planning then before he could think of a way to escape someone opened the door. The person who entered happened to simply be a city guard from what Leo could recall, the guard was of average height nothing too special and spoke with a gruff almost angry tone in his voice “Prisoner, turn around put your hands behind your back and keep your head down. Do not speak unless commanded to do so.” Leo slowly complied without saying a word turning to the wall and putting both hands behind his back, knowing clearly that an engagement with this guard would be fruitless and uncalled for. Besides the fact the guard carried two daggers and one menacing sword that curved slightly upwards at the time to allow a rip of sorts and the handle crafted to come up around the outer side of his hand to protect from blows. The average guards armor was nothing too exciting as they all would consist of chainmail, a tunic emblemed with the Alliance symbol which was a black shield with a white straight sword, greaves protecting the shins of them, leather boots and of course a helm of iron of which every guard had notches in the side of their helm showing their rank, this was an average ranked guard though. The Guard slowly shackled Leos hands behind his back which linked to his ankle’s, eventually the Guard led him out the room to the corridor revealing row after row of doors like his own and even the corridor was not lit all too bright, after what seemed like hours of walking in the dim-light they went up a set of stairs and finally into a much brighter lit room. In this room he was able to look at his clothes more clearly and notice they were pure black with shorts cut at the knees and a shirt with a ‘V’ for his neck then sleeveless with no shoes. Leo then took in his surrondings and sighed glancing at three more guards whom seemed to relieve the current Guard of his duty and sent him out a door he could not so much as hear but see as he was kept faced towards the wall of the smallish like room, though they put a black hood over his face and lead him out another door he kept calm the entire way, for a teenager he was quite reserved...at times. Though if it was up to him he would brawl with these guards and die with his dignity intact but however Gregory might still be alive and if so, he would need Leo. The guards even kept silent while marching him through a hall way of which felt extremely smooth from the way his feet patted on it, but eventually he was led out of the hallway and into another room or so he thought but as he took in a deep breath out of instinct he smelled the air of a city, the guards drew off his hood and shoved him forward on his hands and knees. The area he had been thrusted into was a fancy stoned area with fifteen or more guards all dressed in their normal outfit with Clerk and another high ranking official that seemed important but Leo could not name him at this time, the entire area was flat but he could slightly see past the circle of guards around the small area with a head-catcher with an axeman waiting next to it, maybe...this was the execution. At-least nine more people two or three of his own age were knelt around the axeman and the guards kept their swords in hand ready for anyone to pull something stupid however past the circle there was a low parapet with over the edge a large crowd of people assumably sat with more guards down there as their jeering shouts could be heard, though before Leo could make sense of which city he was in or if this was just a fort he knew not, Clerk rose and smiled at all of them following the higher official as is customary with his head bent at a angle and hands behind his back offering himself at this pose. They walked straight to the edge and the man silenced the entire crowd with a wave of his hand and called out loudly “Greetings my fair citizens, I am here in place of the Lord, as he is busy with the war front and funding your lives as he must. We are gathered to witness the rightful execution of nine traitors to the Alliance, first I bring you Brom!” the crowd shouted in blood-thirsty eagerness to see them punished as the Alliance saw fit. The guard behind who Leo assumed was Brom heaved the man up by his hair and drug him to face the crowd and read the charges. The Alliance treated criminals poorly, you steal you pay the price of the item and serve a month in the dungeon without trial. If you say the Lords name in vain or curse the Divines outside of your home you face a fifteen thousand gold coin fine, failure to pay will result in a trial of deciding whether or not you will be executed or spend as many days as it takes to pay off the fine in the war front with wages of 2.35 silver a day. Trespassing could result in execution or fine depending on the intent and if the owner of said trespassed property goes viciously after the trespasser, which they do generally, it normally ends up going to the war front for a year. Killing any citizen in cold-blood would result in immeditate execution or going to the dungeon for the rest of the persons natural life. Crime punishment contiune as such, the Clerk read off the charges while the man subbing for the Lord smiled warmly at the crowd not at all moved by a human would be executed soon, Leo had a hard time killing anything but when it was called for he would not hesitate, hesitation when hunting meant you became the hunted. Clerk was roughly five six, short for a human around these parts as most males were nearly six foot something, Clerks hair was a fair blonde with dark green eyes then his muscle tone had nothing with a slightly large stomach but nothing to massive, his outfit was a shiny red tunic with the Alliance symbol stamped on his sleeves and back where his front was open, his pants were also red with his shoes matching then his elitist blade made for upper-classed officials sat at his left hip. Brom was a short man which was rare as Clerks height but even more rare considering that Brom was of four foot eleven, a small height that the guard probably could have carried him easily, his hair was dark brown with his eyes showing a hardened stare at the crowd gained possibly from darker pasts, the man was a bit older perhaps but his physical wear and tear looked seven times his age with the deep lines in his face and scars showing on nearly every part of his body. Clerk spoke loudly and clearly over the crowd in a rather monotonic fashion however it was underlined with coldness “Brom Shatter-shield of Faeringor, you are charged with treason, conspiracy and attempted assassination of Faeringor Warden Talon with intent to support The Republic. You are sentenced to death.” Brom only smiled grimly and nodded as Clerk signaled a guard to bring Brom away from the crowd, knelt over the chopping block while awaiting his final rites. The guards parted momentarily to allow a priestess to step near the executioner and Brom, she was around five six or five seven closer to the other however she had pure black long hair drapped down her back with green steely eyes like Broms and seemed anxious, she bore a dagger on her right hip that seemed a little too deadly to be a priest tool or self-defensive weapon. She stood before Brom and the guards with now the Lords sub and Clerk watching her she spoke softly “Brom Shatter-shield, may you rest in peace after leaving this mortal plain and move to the next to see Maiko and converse with Pon, hunt well with Nocturnal but fall not to Razauls chaos. May the Divines bless you.” The axeman rose his blackened steel axe and prepared to swipe at the head of Brom, however as the blade fell he spun on his heel and crashed the massive weapon into the chest of a guard splitting through the tunic, past the chainmail and sticking deep in the chest cavity before the guards could react the axeman and withdraw and swung again just as Clerk began to shout for more guards the priestess drew her dagger and lunged, tackling him to the edge and dropping her knee into his groin knocking him out cold presumably though as she went to slash his throat the Lords sub withdrew his own elitist blade and forced her to turn and block it. The crowd below began shouting as the battle of steel could be heard and guards fell to the axe-man whom had already fatally wounded two who now lie dying in their own pools of blood with one confirmed kill which was the first unsuspecting guard. Leo scrambled back and managed to get to the far wall of the open area with the hawks circling above the vultures would be here soon if all went to however these psychos had planned, the guards seemed to be fighting each other as some drew to fight the axeman and the others went to fight the guards hacking at their own, chaos ensued as the prisoners joined in where possible while the younger ones such as Leo fell back along side him in the shadows watching the events of the priestess combat the Lords sub and the rest fight in bloodthirsty combat. While the combat raged on Leo managed to creep along the wall while the axeman had cut one man clean so he could un-tie the rest of us which Leo did not wait around for him to do, the priestess had grabbed Brom with the Sub in pursuit and went back through the door he had been brought through as he followed them he heard the shouts from presumably from Clerk “Kill them all!”
Leo made sure to follow close to the Sub chasing the priestess and Brom but not so close he would run into them should they stop or so close they could see him as it sounded, Brom was fending the priestess back while she slashed the guards whom were arriving to the scene from what Leo could only guess was the barracks, he knew little to nothing of this town or city. Bells were being raised in alarm to the recent break of execution, it would only bring more guards and eventually the Alliance would send its own legions to secure the area while order would be restored. Leo eventually caught up to the trio busy with their own plight and saw the priestess prancing between seven to eight guards in the hallway slashing and dancing back with her, Brom fought with the Sub and slipped on the smooth stone enough to allow the Sub a devasting blow with the flat side of his black smoothed blade into the side of Broms skull which made a cracking noise. Leo shouted loudly before driving his shoulder straight into the Subs back and driving him to the ground with a grunt of pain, the priestess tried to turn to see what was happening behind her but could not with the guards attacking in front of her kept her busy. The Sub growled in anger taking up his fists in a ball and bringing them down in an arc into the back of Leo causing him to grunt back but not waiting long enough to give him another shot, Leo took his palm and ran it straight into the throat of the Sub painfully crushing his windpipe and causing him to stop resisting Leo and grasp uselessly at his now damaged windpipe, most likely he would die. Leo grabbed the elitist blade and checked Brom’s eyes to see if he was still awake or even alive at this point calling to the priestess “Miss, whatever your name is. Brom is out cold, the Sub is in the pain of dying and I suggest you carry Brom. I will handle the guards but keep your dagger.” the priestess barely had time to nod and fall back behind Leo as he brought up his blade and side-slashed a guard, sending him to the floor. Brom was carried by the priestess who was nearly out of energy after fending off guards for some time now, Leos blade struck with speed, strength and without mercy. Zel must be watching closely, Leo chuckled to himself thinking that silently as his concentration was in the blind-rage of cutting through the ranks of guards before dropping the small group that had formed though they were surronded by the dead Leo sheathed not his blade looking back at the priestess, ignoring the fiery agony in his right arm that was both from swinging, blocking and the several cuts he had gained from the dangerous fight. He was only alive thanks to Gregorys constant training and insisting he must use weapons to hunt animals rather than his own Divine-given hands which he preferred. The priestess turned to him and sheathed her dagger looking at him with a bit of fear and yet admiration at the younger teenager whom had just slashed down at least twenty guards though they would have been both surprised and weakened from her own strikes and said to him “Zel guides your blade and Nytefire gives you her favor. What is your name young one?” “Leo, I have no last-name. What may yours be?” Leo asked quietly wiping blood from his stolen blade and walking back to the Sub whom was rising and falling with each breath growing weaker and mercy killing him by impaling his heart with his own blade before taking the sheath and attaching it back to his own hip...he got a good look at the stand in for the Lord and sighed looking over the golden robes with green and blue dragons circling the mid-section with the alliance symbol faded in below the green dragon, his hair was incredibly white like the Lords though it was obvious that it shined not like the Lord. His eyes were pure black like the Lords however unlike the real Lord there was no red pin in the middle, he may have been blind or sight-broken for all anyone knew. His face was a plain one and could have been a average commoner if not for the Alliance symbol burned into the step-ins forehead. “Athena Heartfire of StormFell.” Athena said quietly as she followed his gaze to the imposters body before tapping his shoulder to gain his attention as they needed to flee before any guards arise or least of all the Lord sends his Dark-Tongue’s. “Leo, its time to go. You can ask questions if we get out of the keep and make it to Broms hideaway.” Leo nodded thinking over Athena’s words letting her take the lead while he guarded her back though most of the guards were fighting up at the tower were the prisoners were released and now caused a riot with the axeman, the civilians would have scattered like scared rats. They moved in silence and speed despite the adrenaline leaving Leo feeling the pain of the Sub smashing into his back, even the Sub felt like the legends said the Lords hands which he had used to still according to folklore and legend, ripped the heart out of Maul whom was the lieutenant of the Locusts which was the name the monsters bore before they changed to the Republic. Most likely to spite the Alliance despite the official insult that commoners and others still called them was Locust or Horde even Swarm for the way the rush into battle winning by shear numbers rather than the way the Alliance fights; which was that numbers mattered little if you are trained well enough. Which was true until the Alliance went to war with the Republic, since then they have had little time to properly train their men like they used to its rumored they even are resorting to using women as spies in Republic cities or camps.
Chapter two: The White Sword

They had traveled for what felt like days though by the time Leo and Athena carrying the still knocked out clean Brom it was possibly ten or eleven strokes to dawn, they had backed out the city and barely managed to escape as legions after legions of soldiers began pouring into the city.They had kept to the shadows and moved quickly with out a single word though they slowed to a bare crawl, walking side by side Brom now over his shoulder while Athena took a break. Surprisingly Athena was the first to break the silence “Leo was it? What made you help us? You could have slain me from behind or let the imposter of the Lord slay us both and run off clean into the night...” she asked quietly as she turned to face me with a look of general curiosity wiping away her previous grim look like a wave curling on the beach which could only mean it would retract as any other expression or wave would. Leo thought for a few minutes before responding slowly choosing his words carefully “I suppose because I don’t like leaving a damsel in distress.” he chuckled softly hoping to break some of the thick chilly ice between them and perhaps blow some of the fog around Athena away. He then turned to look about the forest they had been trotting in for some time now waiting for her response not sure how she would respond however, the area they walked through was seeming particularly dreary and dreadful. Even the trees seemed to dread anything new entering into their sacred forest of grim “Very funny. Don’t think I owe you more than I do.” Leo was about to remind her that the Sub could have slew her easily while murdering Brom though she cut him off adding “Brom owes you his life more than I do, but thank you Leo...” she said the last part lowly while Leo grinned somewhat and simply shrugged as he tried to keep the conversation alive, dying to talk to someone. It had been always been little talking with Gregory but more of training and commands, Athena had peaked his curiosity as well “Athena you never did really say where we were going...” she shrugged and kept walking at the slow pace they had adapted to. Eventually after a few more minutes of silent walking she responded “ Well, we are going to a place obviously hidden away from the eyes of the Legions and the Lord. Have you ever heard of the White Sword?” she asked semi curious though she did not hint to anything else as her feet seemed to make less and less noise leaving only the sound of his feet and the sounds of birds flying away or squawking however Leo responded slowly not quite sure what she meant by the name “No, Gregory did not really let me read all the news or listen to the heralds, he said that horse manure was not worth the worrying.” Athena only gave a grim smile and kept walking though it seemed to grow colder the deeper they went. “Just keep your mouth shut, and trust me.” before Leo could really make any return comments or think on what she meant by trust her, his world turned into a abyss of darkness...though he could hear his sight was completely gone there was nothing around him but yet he could feel the forest floor and the cold air on his skin, the sensation of blindness caused him to nearly panic but he managed to keep his calm knowing that if this was the end and he had been tricked into his own demise; there was nothing he could do about it now. As his sight now his hearing of Athena’s words and the birds had fallen into the dark abyss , even his sense of feeling seemed to go as the coldness over -took him. Is this what death was like? He could barely think before his thought and conscientiousness left him.

When Leo awoke again, his senses had returned but the cold feeling was still in the back of his mind haunting him with the way it destroyed his feelings of life, it was devastating to feel that. He was still wearing the same clothes, carried the sword and nothing had seemed to change besides his surroundings. Though he knew Athena only for a short time he really had grown attached to her in replace of Gregory, it seemed however Gregory had raised him since he was an infant, the flames of combat had bonded them already but regardless, Gregory held hard in his heart somewhere and he would find him, one day. The room was well lit by two covered torches burning by the iron metal door with a handle and small hole in the middle that seemed to be operable from the other side. He had been asleep on the floor but there was a wall mounted bed with light blue and white sheets covering it, a moderately nice mattress occupied it as well. Feeling as if he was in a cell like he had been in the city, he looked for anything that would allow someone to spy on him and observe as if they may have been doing inside the city, though he took his blade and rapped three times on the door with his red leather wrapped handle covering the blade of the sword he had taken and claimed as his own for now, it truly was the best weapon he had ever wielded though he was young and he had not experienced many weapons, it was better than wooden pike.He did not have to wait long until a woman opened his door, she stood a foot or two below his head and matched his own hair color. Though her hair was his own color the only reason he could see it was it fell out the front of the small hood covering her eyes and face from view, her robes were golden and seemed to bathe in the slight light making a few ripples in the outfit without her moving, though on her midsection to chest was a pure white sword resembling an old Templar sword however Templars were mutually hated by every citizen in the Alliance, even the Republic refused to allow them into their cities, the Templars used to rule every inch of land until the Lord arose through their ranks and slowly destroyed them from the inside out, but their sword was still considered a symbol of them and was known for the design they used which created almost the ultimate blade made to a cross in the false single god they believed in, though the point was double sided and never has someone managed to break their sword in combat while a few of the Alliances would shatter on contact with a Templar blade. The Republic’s weapons would be a contest but, still the Templar blade would last longer in combat, just that there was fewer than a thousand Templars left. At the females hip was a short and yet curved sheath that only showed a black handle almost as dark as the night when the moon was nowhere in sight. The robe had a metal plate over her shoulders and it seemed there was a some sort of binding under the robe or inside of it to protect against blades, perhaps interwoven like the Templars wore for their chest but normally wore chainmail under that. Her voice was sweet and melodic in the way it almost made him want to follow her to the ends of the earth “Greetings Leo, did you sleep well? You seemed to have passed out upon arrival with Shadow Walker Bella and Guardian Ryu.” She tilted her hooded face and looked at Leo waiting for a response, she had not to wait long before he sheathed his blade and responded in slight confusion underlying his tone “Shadow Walker Bella? Who is Guardian Ryu? Where am I?” he asked curiously though she simply had that knowing aura floating around her “All in due time, Young One.” she then lead him out of the room and once again into a hallway, he had grown to dislike tight corridors like this after the escapade in the city, but he followed without hesitation feeling safe with her. “Who are you?” Leo questioned still following as they passed identical doors but with odd symbols above them on the stone such as ‘ III, IX, IV, VI, JI ‘
and certain animals sat next to those symbols such as tigers, dragons, wyrms or other beasts man feared. She did not answer him but continued walking and eventually lead him to a bright metal door that he had to wait while she spoke quietly to it the words to fast for him to catch but after about twenty seconds of speaking it unlocked and opened as if by magic, which could possibly have been close to the truth. He was lead into a chamber of sorts, there was a circle missing about six feet between the four rows of desks that had large oak chairs while the ones at the middle seemed to be more important as they were constructed of darker wood that gave off slight intimidation by itself. The desks look polished or sanded at-least and they were also wood but a brighter shine held to them, he was marched to the middle of the circle where he had close to ten feet to himself and no chair meaning he would have to stand alone and in front of the people however currently the chamber was empty. He turned to the female whom had lead him to the center and asked “What is this...?” she simply started walking towards the doors she had taken him through as the light in the room seemed to dim a bit more “Its your life, the members of the White Sword will enter shortly followed by their superiors and eventually the Shadow Walkers, their Guardians and then after them the Titans will enter and finally our blessed leaders Rjorn and Jasmine will take the last seats. They are coming to decide what to make of you.” Leo simply nodded feeling like this could get ugly he had to hope that Athena would be able to help him, or whatever that female called her. He had to look around and noticed with a quick head count there would be approximately two hundred and forty seats not including the leaders own seats, which could mean there was roughly sixty members,Shadow Walkers, Guardians and Titans. That would almost be as much as the crowd that had been shouting from below for his blood and others. As he waited he began to look from where they would enter and found no entrance, but within several minutes the members the woman had informed him about had begun to walk in, all of them clothed like her in the robes and wearing daggers at the side though every six or seven had a long vicious spear on their back, however all of these members were male. They filed in the very back row and then the Shadow Walkers entered like the members they simply appeared in orderly fashion moving into their own assigned seats by the looks of it. All of these members seemed to be bearing charcoal black clad armor that covered them head to toe and a mask covered their faces, their hoods kept all features even the hair hidden. The armor and yet clothing protected Leo from knowing if they were female or male, even in this sanctuary of their own, they adorned two matching dark sheaths that curved hinting to Valhallian blades curved at the middle to tip, these blades sat at their sides while three daggers decorated their chests and a single bow with two quivers full of roughly thirty two arrows decorated their back. The only version of the white sword was on the heart right under one of the dagger sheaths it was small, but noticeable. Following them Titans marched in order filling the seats in dead-silence such as the others had however these were all male clearly. They wore thick plate armor in solid gold with one white sword per shoulder and one across the chest, they adorned only a helm however that let their facial features show, many having a beard at this point hinting age and experience. Even they had weapons, a dozen deadly throwing knives covered their lower plated chest, brutal looking maces hung at their sides and templar blades at the other hip while a trident spear sat on their back then finally Leo noticed, there were no Guardians that he could see. He had to strain his eyes hard just to see the outline of someone sitting next to each Shadow Walker but it seemed if he was not straining to see them, they did not exist. He could make no features of them head nor tail. As the man Leo assumed was Rjorn entered wearing armor similar to the Titans but his arms were not covered with plate armor and his color was nothing but polished white rather than gold and white, and no helm. His hair was pure golden and his eyes were a hard dark yellow, the room exploded in coordinated shouts of “Rjorn! Rjorn! Guide our blades into the heart of the Alliance and our arrows into the throats of the Republic!” however he moved quietly to his seat and as he sat the shouts went silent. Finally Jasmine entered, she adorned a bright gold robe that opened at the arms and covered no skin of her arms, draped to the right leg and opened some of the left for view but held modest still, her hair was long and flowing down her back though it was a light blonde it was tied in the mid section by gold bands, she then also had a book hanging at her side and scrolls dangling from her other hip in easy open reach for her, he wondered why she needed scrolls. Surely not work for a powerful head of an war group. The shouts this time were almost louder and tilted more towards Jasmine “Jasmine! Jasmine! Smash their lines with our voice and give power to our troops as we march on their fiery graves they call cities and hide in their chambers!”
Leo found it sounding a bit more like a cult, but they were needing morale and this was one way to give it he supposed, though he remained silent as the Jasmine silenced them with a wave of her hand and Rjorn stood from the back room looking about before simply welcoming Leo “Welcome Leo of no-shield, I trust you found your room suitable?” Leo did not reply and simply nodded, not sure if he was being impolite he tried to force a half-smile. Though Rjorn simply laughed, a deep rolling laugh almost like thunder his skin color was black like soot and reminded him of slaves though it was rare to see one as they were kept hidden and rarely were in the country by Gregory...the laugh however seemed to crack the tension and he began to speak once more “Everyone, this is the boy that protected our very own at the risk of death! He will be shown the highest honor you have to offer and treat him as if he was our own. All may leave besides myself, Jasmine, ShadowWalker Bella, Guardian Ryu and our esteemed guest.” as quickly as everyone appeared, they just as quickly disappeared. When everyone disappeared Leo was offered a chair in the middle, the others all gathered close to him but still around the table, the first to speak was Bella whom stood signaling standing would give the right to speak “Honor to you Jasmine and Rjorn. I would like to under-take no-shield Leo under my wing and train him as our own. He could have slain me when I was protecting my guardian Ryu, but he instead took his life into the gambling ring with the Lord substitute.” Leo was rather surprised at the turns of events, he had expected to perhaps be given some armor, food and money then sent on his way. He smiled to himself knowing Gregory would have killed him anyways should he have ignored the woman and her friend. It seemed to take an eternity for the man Rjorn and Jasmine to respond loud enough for him to hear, but their answer came with swiftness “ShadowWalker Bella, you are aware you will be forced to take full responsibility for him should anything go awry, correct?” Rjorn said with a bit of annoyance, but Bella did not wait for a comment from Jasmine and responded still standing “Yes Sir, I am aware of this contract. that would bind us in blood and all due respect, we need more Shadow Walkers we lost many confronting the legions of Aizendower, though the victory was greatly turning in the overall battle against the Alliance.” Jasmine smiled softly and simply nodded her acceptance but said with a bit of foreshadowing of what she believed the future “Bella, be aware the only reason we shall accept this, is because of your reputation in the White Sword. Though make no mistake, you shall be held accountable throughout his trials.” Rjorn grunted and slammed his fist down in acceptance before standing in suit all of them stood, Leo following their example. Rjorn muttered out “Welcome Leo, apprentice to ShadowWalker Bella.” Jasmine smiled and Leo began to wonder who really was in-charge, perhaps what Gregory once said was true “Men may bandish weapons,flex their muscles of strength and shout their cries of war but, women will hide their weapons and use their muscles of mental will and emotional strength, their cries will be quiet but after the battle as finished and the flames have flickered out.” Gregory was a fond believer than women were stronger than men in some cases mentally but few physically. Leo did not share this belief entirely but he knew there was a counter for every counter attack or attack. Magic certainly did level the field quite a bit, in one case he heard from a town crier when Gregory took him past Ronik’s farm that a woman slave so struck by sorrow and despair for the fate of the women and men even children put to death in the slave life, she conjured a demon. Sacrificing herself and a few hundred villagers, guards and slaves as well. She summoned a demon made from despair and hatred. This demon slew nine battalions of paladins, mages and clerics even defeated the royal archers when they marched in unison with the last battalion. This demon was rumored to still guard the village that it was summoned in, any person unfortunate enough to wander into the Summersend village would become substance for the demons never ending rage. Leo feared the person that would cause so much pain to exact vengeance.
“We will take our leave now, you are all excused.” Jasmine said simply and crackling into non-existence once more with Rjorn they disappeared leaving Bella, Ryu and Leo a-lone. Leo stood speechless looking between them but Bella walked over and smiled her hood and face mask pulled away. “Well Leo, follow Ryu. Let’s get you a bed, recruits and apprentices to Guardians or Shadow-walkers share a common sleeping area whilst full-fledged members have their own respective chambers. The Titans and their apprentices share their own chamber on the deepest level of the underground fort. Right above Rjorn and Jasmine's. Whitesword members have the top level and we Shadow-Walkers and Guardians share the mid to second level. Each level is suited to do with the needs of the designated group.