Short Story-A-Month; January
Hello! This is my first entry in my 'Short Story-a-Month' project that I started! My first story is one part of an adventure novella, with 3 planned parts which will be written by the end of the year. I hope you enjoy, and please don't hesitate to give any constructive criticism or feedback in the comments
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The fire flickered in it's shallow pit, occasionally spitting embers that twisted and danced in the dawn's breeze. As it's glow began to wane, the young woman surveyed the outline of her camp and the steady glow her magical wards that traced around it's edges made. She lingered her gaze a little too long on the aura, which then caused her eyes to strain against the contrasting darkness that seemed to pervade the area. The faint circle pulsed around her like an aurora in an array of indescribable colours, swirling and writhing with the power of a thousand ancestral spirits. The light bathed the snow-capped trees surrounding the area in an unnatural shade of blue-green, which contrasted heavily with the orange glow of the fire. The light even reflected off the intricately-designed metal buckles on her breastplate, and a twinkle in the young woman's beautiful hazel eyes was the only obvious glimpse of femininity held in the stoic figure.
Braela wondered how long her magic would hold; dawn had only just arrived and she knew they would be upon her camp soon. Her wards were strong, but were they strong enough? She had more to do before she could move onwards though, so with some weary inevitability she pushed herself off of the ground and brushed her legs clean of debris. Her stomach groaned but she knew that before she could even think about breakfast she had to make sure her preparations were complete. She collected her belongings and then spent some time setting small snare traps; enough to slow her pursuers down long enough to put some distance between her and them. Her mission was of utmost importance and she refused to become just another shallow grave out in the wilderness. She then set about channeling her runes to make sure she had enough reserve to last her the next leg of her journey.
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Like all Excubitors before her, Braela Stormstolt had been taught the ways of the Senti by the Prior in her village when she reached her thirteenth birthday. As a child she was precocious but also a quiet soul; not in the sense that she was shy but simply that she kept to herself. Her parents, Sophora and Barodor, saw the potential in her and so with the Prior's consent she learnt. Prior Alsoreth was a wizened man and yet was still a strong and imposing figure, so because of this he was able to keep watch over the village as well as serving as a competent tutor to any students who wished to learn the power of the Order.
Nyaborgar, the village that had cradled Braela as she grew up, sat in the shadow of Kallvarstad which was one of the major cities in the province. When she was young, Braela would stare out from her bedroom window at the lights and smoke that rose from behind the city walls and dreamt of the wondrous things that took place within. Prior Alsoreth would regularly visit Kallvarstad for supplies and meetings with the local Sentus' Order to get an idea of the goings on in the region and reports from the wider world on the continent's politics or any strange happenings. Sometimes the Prior would be called up to deal with issues in the area such as leading skirmishes against the evil races or cleansing an old Monarch's tomb. During that time Braela would resume #life as an innocent young girl, learning at school and playing with the children of the village.
Braela was one of six students that Alsoreth taught; Nyaborgar being a large enough village to warrant that number of children being drafted as apprentice Excubitors. Alsoreth felt that the children he selected possessed enough of the precursory talents to become part of the Sentus Order so after permission had been acquired he began their training. He taught them various disciplines, including survival techniques, basic sword-fighting and most importantly, channeling. "All an Excubitor's strength lies in their Runes", the Prior said as he first showed his students a set of the small-ish stones. "Anybody magically-inclined can cast incantations and glamours, and powerful warlocks can even use staffs or wands to channel their power, but a true Excubitor uses Runes. Using Runes calls on the power of your ancestors and gathers their noble strength to aid you against your foe. With them, we stand watch over these lands and ensure that the world of men is not corrupted and is allowed to prosper", spoke the tutor. Alsoreth then held one hand up towards the stones and concentrated, and the students watched in awe as the Runes glowed and began to arc streams of light to his hand. Apparitions and wisps suddenly flew about the room and bright flashes of light exploded in the small hut to the amazement of the children, open-mouthed in wonder of what they saw before them. The Prior lowered his hand but still kept it outstretched, slowly raising his head and opening his eyes as a wry smile began to form on his ageing face. The visions faded, and the Runes continued to hover in place, twitching occasionally despite the intense lights emanating from them had ceased. Still, the glow around them remained and the ancient sigils remained etched into the polished rocks in a brilliant white light.
Braela was entranced by the Runes and the power they held from then on. Her keen fascination with the supernatural, coupled with her natural skill and guile regarding combat meant she learnt fast and progressed quickly. With Alsoreth's help, she even trained to become an Armiger, a junior rank in the Sentus Order. Nonetheless, it was a rank befitting children and teenagers of promise and Braela was no exception to this. Alsoreth would sometimes take Braela and her fellow pupils on occasional trips to Blackpine Wood, a forest outlying Nyaborgar, in the hopes of encountering beasts or creatures of unnatural origins. Purely meant as a training and teaching exercise, they would sometimes stumble across sprites and other lesser (and might I add harmless) magical entities on their travels. Alsoreth saw the children's security as paramount and so he always made sure he kept his Golem, a ten foot tall stone guardian powered by Runemagic, with them at all times. The figure towered above even the Prior, and ensured that Braela and the other students would be safe if they were to ever come under attack on one of these expeditions.
On one of these expeditions when the group were exploring in the forest, Aldor, one of the male students under Alsoreth's tutelage, discovered a cave at the bottom of a cliff face after breaking into a clearing. A boulder sat on the edge of the clearing as well as smaller debris which was scattered around the floor. He called for the others to follow and once assembled, the group shuffled towards the opening. It's mouth whistled and droned, indicating to Alsoreth that not only was this day a particularly windy one, but also that the cave led to somewhere else. Leading the group of tentative youths, Alsoreth halted their progress forwards and let their golem venture first into the blackness whilst he began to teach the group a basic illumination spell. "The Runes give an Excubitor not only a focus point but also act as a storage vessel for magicks. They are ancient magical tools and can hold great power and so first you must prove all of you are all worthy of them. I'm confident that each of you will though, so hopefully each of you will probably have a set of Runes for yourself!" said Alsoreth, smiling as the group clapped and chattered in excitement as they heard this news. "They are not toys, however, and are incredibly dangerous in the hands of the foolish, young ones." he added, sternly. The excitement stood firm in the dispositions of the children despite this addition, as children are predisposed to ignore comments like these in such situations. To add seriousness to his statement, he concentrated and suddenly the Runes in his hand exploded into flame which took the children aback in surprise, a couple even falling backwards over the small rocks which littered the floor. Once he had their full attention again, he quelled the Rune's fire and the small group broke into fits of laughter, Alsoreth continuing his teaching only after the giggles had died down.
As their tutor explained the intricacies of the spell further, the automaton lurched forwards towards the cave's maw, crushing small rocks and trampling mossy patches spread out around the front of the hole as the behemoth approached. Slowly the golem came to stand before the gaping void and as soon as it had confronted this dark barrier, it crossed the threshold just as quickly and disappeared into the entrance. The Prior glanced up from his lesson to look at the cave's mouth as this occurred, the elder hearing the echoing footsteps of the golem spilling out from the darkness as it travelled up the rocky passage.
Suddenly, the Golem was flung back down the tunnel and crashed onto the floor outside. The statue skidded along the rock and gravel as it landed, stopping about 15 feet away in plumes of dust. The children and tutor looked up through the rising cloud of debris as a massive, spindly leg poked out of the abyss and felt it's surroundings. Covered with wiry hairs both small and large, the needle-like appendage waved menacingly in the mid-morning air, almost surveying the area for prey. The colour drained from most of the children's faces and Ellsa, one of the younger girls in the group, screamed in terror as 3 more legs joined the first in coming out of the cave. Alsoreth looked to Braela, who was at 15 years of age one of the oldest students under his tutelage by this point, and commanded her to gather the children and take them somewhere safe. She nodded her understanding to her tutor, only allowing a slight amount of the terror she was feeling presently to show through in her countenance. The legs that had appeared out of the darkness now latched onto the rocky opening and were attempting to drag the mass within the cave forwards, making clicking and scraping noises as it neared the exit of the passage. As she went to take the children away, Alsoreth unsheathed one of his daggers that he kept in his belt and gave it to Braela, flipping the small blade in his hand effortlessly so the hilt faced her. She flashed a smile of gratitude and then the grave look returned to her face as she went onwards.
In order to escape Braela needed to take the children across the face of the cave, as the clearing was blocked in most part by felled trees or dense scrub. Even trying to keep maximum distance between them and the opening, they would have to go in front of the large boulder they passed as they entered the clearing. Knowing this, Braela approached the boulder cautiously with the group of six children in tow; they were mostly silent but a couple of the younger ones were sobbing in fear. They passed the golem, which was struggling to get up as it had lost a portion of it's left forearm in the initial throw. The figure sat upright, and suddenly the Runes in the golem's chest glowed white to green and lines of Runemagic lit up trails of ancient text around the behemoth's body, weaving around it's arms and legs in intricate patterns. Slowly the constituent pieces of his arm, which had scattered on the floor, gradually at first but more violently vibrated until they were travelling across the ground toward the hulking figure's broken stump of an arm and re-attaching themselves to the golem. Meanwhile, Alsoreth was trying to formulate a plan whilst gathering strength in his Runes to fight whatever creature this was. Holding the four small Runestones in his right hand he projected a ball of molten rock and fire from his left which arced forward at great speed, sailing true into one of the foul creature's limbs. The creature clicked and screamed as the fire engulfed the appendage, recoiling back into the abyss in pain as it did so. "Go! Now, go!!" shouted Alsoreth, seeing this as an opportunity for the young ones to escape into the dense forest. Braela pulled at the arms of Aldor and another child as they struggled to run across the face of the opening before whatever creature returned with the others running behind them.
Again, without warning the limbs reappeared and thrust against the cave's opening, this time bringing forth the hideous creature from within. Now the creature was out in the open, the group could now see it for all it's incredible horror. The body of the monster was large and hairy like it's legs but had two 'arms' near it's disgusting mouth which were larger in diameter and had bulbous caps at the end. It's mouth consisted of hundreds of needle-like protrusions which varied wildly in size; one could only assume those were it's teeth. The huge arachnid-like creature flexed it's legs as it finally had enough space to manoeuvre freely, and then fixated it's numerous eyes on the group of children which had been unlucky enough to be caught between it and escape. The group froze in spot, terrified to finally see what was lurking in the cave and most of the children screamed. The abomination moved it's body down to Braela and the children's level and screeched loudly.
=//TO BE CONTINUED//=
