The mercenary elf Artemis has been having strange dreams and visions about the destruction of his home-world, Terra! How will he stop the coming doom, and how will he cope with these strange new allies...?
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It was dark. Too dark. He shuddered as he looked around, unsure of what he should really do. His waves of thick, black hair swirled in his face. Abnormal as this was, he felt that there had to be something he could do for Terra. The fragile Terra, the world upon which all their lives were built...
The elf turned twice, making sure to take in all of his surroundings. His semi-partial companion, a rather undramatic little pixie named Medora, was nowhere to be seen, and on a normal basis, she traveled with him everywhere. She was flitty and small, unclothed as pixies tended to go, and the brilliant light she gave off normally comforted him.
But here, in this eerily cold darkness, he could feel nothing else, see no other light. What could this horrid place be...?
*****
Ares groaned as he opened his eyes to the abnormal and unwelcome brightness of the early morning. His soft white hair fell into his eyes gently, just overlapping the crystalline horn that protruded from the center of his forehead. Humanoid unicorn indeed.
With another groan, eminating from the depths of his throat, he sat up. Only to have a pillow come down on his head and impale itself on his horn.
Annoyed, he pushed the fluffy mass away. It was ever-so-soft, of course, because it had been filled with dropped down from a pegasus, and that pegasus was standing in front of him in annoyance. His cousin Athena was never one for formalities when it came to awakening her fellow mercenary. Her soft, billowy white wings were folded carefully along her back, and her eyes, an achingly soft silver, were narrowed in that glare of baleful insolence.
Quietly, the unicorn snorted. "I'm awake, Athy. Can't you see that already?"
"Well, I didn't know you were going to sit up," Athena stated with indignance, flicking her tail and ruffling her wings for effect. Her own hair, as equally white as his own, hung slightly past her shoulders, and it swayed softly when she turned from him. Then, she noticed something. Ares' face had been dark with the remnants of a bad dream, his body soaked with persperation. She gave a sympathetic smile, then sat down next to him. "Are you all right, Ares?"
Ares gave a sigh, running his hand through his hair beside the crystalline point protruding from his face. "I had a dream..." He paused to correct his statement. "No... no, more like a nightmare." And he shuddered. "I saw nothing but black... and icy cold... there was no light anywhere, but I could tell somehow that I was still on Terra. And strange, there was a young elfin man standing in front of me... he didn't see me... but he was looking around in shock. He had black hair and brilliant blue eyes. I'm willing to bet it wasn't my dream at all... but his."
Athena frowned slightly, the motion creasing her small, round face. "I don't like the sound of that." She was quite serious. Oftentimes, being a telepath, she snuck into someone else's dream, but never something quite so severe. "Could you tell how old he was?"
Once again, Ares snorted. "Elves are like us, Athy. You can't just tell their age by looking at them. They don't really age much, anyhow." He then shuddered. "Do you think it could have something to do with the darkness covering the sky that I saw through the longscope last night?"
A thoughtful expression crossed Athena's face. "I think it does. But we don't have time to be worrying with that now." She gave his shoulder a sturdy pat. "We've a lot of jobs to do today. Musn't keep the paying customers waiting."
*****
Artemis jolted awake to the franting pleading of Medora, who was flitting about his head like a lightning bug. He was a truly young elf, barely having passed the age of fifty, and it was obvious in the pale color of his eyes. "Medora! Medora, it's all right, I'm awake now!"
"Oh, don't scare me like that again!" Medora's voice was squeaky and high, as it always was, but this time it was laced with that hint of worry only a pixie could portray in such a precocious and innocent manner. "You were crying out that Terra was in danger! Was it another premonition?"
As much as he would've liked not to, Artemis gave a weary nod. It had been too true to deny. These dreams, these nightmares of the destruction of Terra, had been plaguing him nightly now. There were days and nights now he wished he hadn't inherited his mother's clairvoyancy. Medora landed on his shoulder and patted his cheek reassuringly. "We'll figure something out."
Artemis sighed as he stood, nodding a little as he pulled on a pair of jeans. "I certainly hope so. I can feel that the danger is getting closer... but I can't tell when or where it will arrive!" His eyes closed lightly as he sighed once more before opening them to pick up a tunic. "There was another element to this one, though, although I didn't really acknowledge him. And I think he was from somewhere else. A unicorn, if I could tell anything from the horn on his forehead."
Medora was breathless. "A unicorn..."
The tone the pixie took was enough to finally brighten Artemis' mood, and he laughed at her as she flitted from his shoulder only long enough for him to put on his tunic. "You act like you've never heard the word before, Meddy!" He smiled affectionately as the pixie after she landed on his shoulder and he had tied his belt about his waist. "Come now. I'll get my sword and we can take on our new menace. Whataya say?"
There was no word of protest from the pixie.
*****
The dungeon area was dark, dank, and reaked of dead bodies and human blood. Artemis had never liked the smell of human blood. It was unique and horrible. Even Medora was disturbed by it, flitting back and forth as she pulsated a brilliant blue in her distress. Artemis made a hushed sound, trying to get her to stop the pulsating.
Medora did slack off on her incessant pulsating, if only by a little bit. However, the approaching sound in the corridor made both elf and pixie freeze in place, watching attentively for the approach of their enemy...
It was much to Artemis' surprise that the approaching troll attacked from behind instead, flinging him violently into the wall. Pain streaked through his body, but, boldly, he stood up and drew his sword, facing the malevolent creature with a slight grimmace crossing his face. This was a big troll... bigger than any he had ever seen, in fact. /They've been getting bigger... Father, lend me your strength!/
The young, headstrong elf lunged foreward, striking at the great beast with his old sword, cursing under his breath as he only just barely missed his mark, but pivoted gracefully on his foot for another strike. Medora was pulsating wildly, worried about her 'charge', as she often so lovingly informed Artemis he was.
Headstrong as he was, however, Artemis took no mind to the fact that the troll was unnaturally large, strong, and *fast*. However, every time he thrust foreward with his sword, the troll was gaining ground, and soon, it was able to sink its sharp claws into his belly. The pain caused made the elf gasp in shock, recoiling into a wall, where he collapsed.
At first, he thought the beast was going to make a meal of him, and he instantly apologized mentally to his father...
Then, suddenly, he was aware of the presence of two others in the dungeon. He heard the piercing shriek of an arial denizen, a pegasus most likely, as she dove on the troll, and he felt the wind from her heavy wingbeats. Opening his eyes weakly, he saw her there, and then saw the troll wrenched from top to tail, right in half, as if by two beasts much bigger than it was. The pegasus landed, her wings flapping twice before folding gently along her back. She was in human form.
He then recognized the second presence he had sensed. It was a unicorn, in human form as well, knelt next to him, the crystalline horn on his forehead giving off a gentle glow. "Is the troll dealt with, Athy?"
"Yes," the female addressed as 'Athy' replied. "How's the elf?"
"Badly wounded... he took a beating from that troll..." The unicorn frowned. "We'll have to take him back to our place to dress his wounds. He'll die if we leave him here. Athena, after you."
The pegasus snorted as she formed herself from a delicate human girl with wings and a horse's tail to her more appropriate form... a slender white horse with graceful wings. Artemis was only aware of being lifted in strong arms, the aching in his body relieved by the pulsating glow of the beautiful crystal horn, before he fell into the black abyss of unconsciousness.
*****
Days could've passed. Maybe even hours, or only minutes. Artemis wasn't particularly sure. All he knew was that when he woke up, he could see Medora flitting about in front of someone and her small voice demanding information of them about Artemis' condition. It was the unicorn from before. He had his hands up a little in defense, a weak smile crossing his fair features. "Look, little friend, he'll be fine! Just calm down and take a few breaths! Shh, shh! Look, he's waking up!"
Medora instantly stopped her flitting, darting to Artemis' side. She landed on the pillow and put a hand against his cheek. "Artemis...?"
"Artemis, is it?" The pegasus entered the room with a quick pace. She wasn't wearing the strange armor that she had been wearing before, but now, instead, a skirt, a vest, and a blouse. "He's awake, then?"
"Starting to wake up." He smiled at the pegasus, then turned back to the elf on the bed, who was looking at him with quiet curiosity. "Good morning, Artemis. Your little friend here has been worried sick about you."
Artemis cast a weary smile, his blue eyes still glistening with the pain he had only so recently endured. "She's like that. I'm taking it you heard my name from her?"
The unicorn laughed, hands on his hips, and the light caught his horn, spiraling off beautiful sparkles of rainbow-colored light, like a prism. "Artemis this, and Artemis that! You're all she ever talked about!" He grinned. "You must be quite the fellow for a little pixie to like you so much."
"...She was sort of a gift from my mother. She saved Medora from a goblin, and Medora granted her one wish in return. The wish Mother made was to protect me to the best of her ability, and never leave my side. She kept that promise, and Mother disappeared after that." He smiled whistfully. "Medora's my light."
"I can tell." Finally, the unicorn sat down on the edge of the bed, a wry smile twisting his fine lips. "I'm Ares. The pegasus there is my cousin, Athena." He gave a nod to the worried girl. "We found you about to become a rather large troll's new snack."
This made the young elf shudder. "Not a pleasant thought, I'll assure you."
"The enemy is getting closer..." Both of the young men turned to look at Athena, who was sitting quietly in a chair, her head leaned back and eyes closed. "The blackness is coming closer and closer to swallowing Terra."
Artemis' heart lurched into his throat. "The darkness...?! You know about it?!"
Blinking, Ares turned back to Artemis. "Well, yeah. Athena's a telepath. She's 'in-tune' to all the things around her."
"I remember... my father once told me about it in a poem..."
Athena lowered her eyes back to their level and viewed them both quietly. "Can you tell us what it said...?
The elf closed his eyes briefly. Why was he telling these people about all of this? "Once white white light under darkened moon, once theres no light at the strike of noon. Once theres life under crimson skies. Once the last light finally dies. Once final flame is brutally torn. Once the shaded sun is born. Once no one dares to take a breath, her anger and fear will bring forth death." Oh yeah. They knew about it too. "That's it. My father was a great mercenary, you see... I always... tried to be like him..."
For once, the pegasus didn't speak, regarding the black-haired young elf through sharp violet eyes. The unicorn watched him as well, then put a hand on his shoulder. "Good sir, would you be interested in joining our mercenary group? It's only my cousin and I, and we could use an extra hand. Especially with this new foe that seems to be coming."
Artemis regarded Ares in shock, taking in every feature of the unicorn's face. He was young and strong, his thick white hair falling over his shoulders with whisps falling past his horn and into his eyes. Quite handsome, really...
Mentally shaking his head, Artemis gave a bright smile and held out his hand. "My friend, I would be glad to."
*****
That night, the group of four sat outside with Ares carefully checking the longscope. His brow was furrowed in worry. "The darkness is growing. I don't like that."
"So, we need to find out what's causing it," Athena said quietly.
"And do something about it," finished Artemis.
As usual, Medora looked perplexed. "If that's the case, then why don't any of the astronomers know about it?"
Ares growled, causing Medora to dart into a bush. "They wouldn't care to tell Terra if the moon was falling down upon us!" Then, he sighed. "Artemis, you said your mother was a high priestess. That means she was clairvoyant. So... is this how you knew about the darkness?"
Nodding, Artemis stood and scooted in next to Aries, peering through the longscope himself. "She was able to see things in the future, from a minor accident the next day to a great catastrophe three weeks in advance. I inherited that ability from her."
With a flutter of her wings, Athena made her way to the roof for a better, unobstructed view of the night sky. She then looked down at them. "So what do you think that poem meant? Once white white light under darkened moon, once theres no light at the strike of noon?"
"I wish I knew," groaned Artemis as he dropped to the floor to sit where he was. Ares sat next to him, staring at him sympathetically. "My mother disappeared shortly after giving me Medora, shortly after my father's death, no more than a month after he told me that poem."
There was a rustling noise and Medora, having heard her name, darted from where she had been eating sweet berries in the bush she'd darted into and settled on Artemis' shoulder. "It's so complicated!" She sighed deeply, sounding like a little chirp. "How will we know when the new evil will come? How will we know how to defeat it?"
"You worry too much, little friend," stated Athena, smiling down from the roof. "We've got plenty of time to figure things out." She cast a glance at her cousin and the raven-haired elf. "Yes... plenty of time indeed..."
.oOo~To Be Continued~oOo.
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