The Mighty Warrior

By: Chryseas Posted on: July 31, 2010

Keen eyes examined the plains around him, anything could be hiding out there. A stray hair of auburn fell across his face and he blew out a breath with his mouth to get it away. The wind was very soft and gentle today in the Sangre, but still troublesome at times.

He flexed his dominant right arm and gripped his shortsword tighter. His left hand did the same with its weapon as he tensed. Right foot, left foot, he stalked across the plains, keeping downwind. Icy blue eyes swept across the horizon and found themselves lock upon a noble buffalo. He had hunted buffalo before, they were fierce but nothing he couldn't handle.

Quietly, creeping up he waited until the last moment to step upwind from the buffalo, facing his opponent head on. There was no honour in taking an enemy from behind, even if the enemy were a non-sentient creature who gnawed grass. He slashed with his right sword, diagonally left down to the right, across the buffalo's face. Again, he slashed in quick succession, left sword across the buffalo's temples, not quite as deep as the first cut.

He stumbled backwards as the buffalo head butted his abdomen, his lithe Mhun body not able to take such a force and nearly landed on his rump. Gritting his teeth, he quickly took an offensive stance before the buffalo could attack him again. Sparing only a moment of thought to his timing, he advanced again, both swords attacking back to back. He side stepped the next headbutt, but still got clipped by that massive head on his hip, spinning him aside.

"By the Great Mhunna!!" he cried and plunged his two swords into the buffalo at the same time. The corpse twitched and then finally heaved one last breath.

He felt a stray hair on his forehead again and wiped it away, but a white feather was what left and drifted off into the distance.

"Curious..." he mumbled to himself.

A groundhog popped up next to his feet and he nearly jumped. Only a warrior's training kept his body calm and he lunged. The groundhog seemed to giggle at him as it ducked back underground, missing the blades he sent towards it.

Suddenly, another groundhog popped up to his left, then disappeared just as quickly. Another. Another. Again...

"What in the name...???" He sliced his blades out in a circled arc around him. None of the blades landing a hit. He touched his mindseye tattoo, assuring himself he wasn't hallucinating behind blind eyes.

Suddenly, he looked up from the holes at his feet and found he was in a sea of groundhogs. 'Oi... this is worse than getting teamed in Manara. Crafty devils!' he thought to himself.

The wind blew harder and he was surrounded by the stench of dampness and oppression. Gnolls gave their toothiest grins as they brought their weapons down upon his body.

The pulsing, stabbing pain in his arm from the wound lasted only a moment before sheer will to live forced him to parry for all he was worth. Enraged, he filled himself with steel. He sliced. Right. Left. Doubleslash.

His vision was impeded, he couldn't spare a moment to wipe the hair that kept falling in his eyes. He blinked, gnoll teeth, gnoll sword. Blinked again, feathers...?? Slash!

His arms were bloodied to his elbows, but he stood triumphant. Four gnolls lay at his feet, in varying positions, faces arrayed in visages of true death. His own wide grin was unmistakeable as he collected the coins from around the dead bodies. Gold glistened in the minimal light.

Each time he picked up a beautifully, shiny gold sovereign, he closed his fist around it on the ground and lifted it to find a feather in his palm. A feather so pristine and snow white, it also seemed to glisten like diamond dust...

"Son, what in all of SAPIENCE are you up to?? You screamed like a wounded bear!" A voice in the distance called.

Stunned out of his idle reverie of the feather, he looked around. He was in his room. His training swords were gripped tightly in his fists and his bedding was strewn around the entire room. Pillows looking like they had been heaved across the room exploded in feathers where they fell. A Mhojave falcon and various pet birds squawked loudly amidst the rubble that was now his room.

He looked up at the voice's speaker then with a slightly flushed grimace on his face. "Hi mom... Umm, practicing?"