Yumeshi's diary

May 3rd, 2011

Last night was rather troublesome, I spent it looking for a place to stay the night; but I wasn’t allowed to stay on the duke’s palace and the closest city was a few hours away, so I had to hold my drowsiness a bit longer. I didn’t like to travel with the wagon at night, most of the carnivores were nocturnes and my eyesight was almost nonexistent; I could have created a stable fireball with the oxygen in the air, but it would have attract the animal’s attention; luckily for me Seara wasn’t giving me that kind of problems tonight.

                After some howling that startled me, a few stops I had to do in order to avoid making sound and the rare meetings of others wagons, sometimes caravans; I arrived at the city that the guard at duke’s palace talk me about, “midnight refuge”. The city was built and mostly inhabited by humans, with the original idea of giving shelter from the goblins of the north to the duchy inhabitants. After a short self-presentation and a meticulous search from the guards through my wagon, the city’s gate opened, inviting me inside.

                It was already too late; if I were lucky I could sleep a few hours before going to the duke audience, looks like he was receiving visitors from the start of the day. There was almost no one at the streets, something quite obvious at this time of the day; so I just had to roam around there, looking for a place to sleep. I found a good looking building just around a corner, why do I know it was an inn? Because it had a sign with the drawing of a bed, such old school. I tied the horses outside, at one of the rings across the floor; I didn’t see another place to do it so I guess I did right.

                Once inside the inn, I noticed the environment was oddly quiet, I thought an inn would be livelier from what I read in books: people drinking, fighting, singing and telling stories. But the few people that were sitting were just drinking and looking at me out of the corner of their eyes, am I that odd? I got closer to the bar and call the tavern keeper; he was cleaning the mugs in silence and apparently ignoring me.  I called him one more time, louder; he then left the much he was cleaning on the bar and nailed me with his look. “What brings a foreign elf around here?” His voice sounded abrupt, with a clear distrust tone on it; looks like outsiders weren’t welcome here.

                I rummaged a moment inside the money bag I received from Erestor and took out a silver coin; just have a few of those right now, better not squander them. I showed the bar keeper the coin, asking him if it was enough for a room. He was a bit surprised at first, but concealed it before I could notice it; then gave me a pair of keys and told me to climb up the stairs at my right and so I did, feeling a few looks at my back. Once at the upper floor, I could hear a sound variety coming from the rooms: some loud snoring, friendly laughing or intense arguing, one guy mumbling to himself, and finally… eh… I will omit this part in case any child read this diary…

                The only quiet room was the one at the end of the corridor, so I tried opening it with the key I received from the bar keeper, he could have told me the room at least; like I thought, the key fitted on the keyhole and the door opened; showing me a small room with a humble, but good enough for me, bed and a big enough chest at the side. I stored the books I took from the wagon inside the chest and locked it with the next key, I have a wary nature. Already done, I closed the door with the key and lay down on the bed, falling in sleep quickly.  I should had write these lines at yesterday’s entry, but honestly I was already too tired and did write a little at the afternoon-night, so… let’s just leave it like this.

                When I opened my eyes the door was still in place, enough for me. But I’m sure that anyone that tried to enter would have been bitten by Seara; looks like today he is sleeping over the chest, maybe trying to protect the contents. I patted him softly on the head and made him go back to tattoo mode; recently I’ve been noticing that the tattoos that disappear every time Seara materialize are different, but always half of them. I dressed up and went back the stairs, after eating something I would be back to get the books.

                The bar keeper told me to sit down once I was down. I didn’t understand at first, but I took a place away from the hustle and sit down waiting. After a few minutes, he came back with a plate and a mug; the plate filled with good looking meat and the mug shining with a green liquid inside. I wanted to ask him about the liquid, but he went away like a thunder; the inn was overflowing with bustle. I took the meat from the bone that sticks out and start biting eat; despite its bad look, the meat was really delicious, tender but with a strong taste. Before I could notice, I was biting just a clean bone; the meat was already gone.

                The meat was delicious, but it made me thirsty right away; so I took the green looking mug and, thinking over it for a second, suck in a small amount. My cough could be hear louder that the bar racket, this beverage was so strong that I almost choked. One of the guys approached me with a funny expression on his face and sat down at my front, ordering a drink with a loud shout. The order was fast, not even one minute later he already was drinking from mug similar to mine. He gulped down the liquid and hit the table with the mug, smiling proudly.

                I was speechless at first; that guy was too straight forward and his attitude disturbed me slightly. Before I could open my mouth, he started talking. His name was Arthur, a bounty hunter from far away and, in the long time he was in that city, I was the first outsider he met. Arthur then explained me that the town situation was complicated; they distrust outsiders because of the goblins. When I asked about the goblins, he told me to hand over my mug and then he would talk; honestly I was kind of thankful, that drink was too strong for me. He gulped it down again and hit the table with the mug, clumsier; looks like the liquor was reaching his head.

                Before talking about the goblins, he asked me about my reason on staying here; I told him I wanted to see the duke of these lands, something that he found funny. Arthur just wished me luck with a hint of irony and explained that the Keppen inhabitants were constantly being attacked by a bunch of goblins from the north; they will rob and kill any wagon that they can find on the roads; looks like I was lucky the past night. I thanked him for the information and stand up, my rest was already over.  I gave a quick glance to my wagon outside, looks like it was safe, and then went upstairs to take my books back, looks like I distracted more than I should had.

                When I untied the horses and rode up the wagon, and left the books at the cart, I found a weird surprise; Arthur was arched there naturally, like it was the right thing. He just told me that he had to meet the duke too and two persons can take care of goblins on the way better, making it look like he was making me a favor. I was already in a hurry, so I just let it pass this time and spurred the horses, leaving back the city.

                The way was quieter than I thought, Arthur just keeps silent on the cart and I was focusing on the road, with the fear of assaulting goblins. A little later, I found the remains of a smashed wagon on the road. At first I was thinking about ignoring it, but then I heard a crying coming from there, so I stopped the wagon and got down from it, looks like Arthur was sleeping so I didn’t told him about it. The crying was high-pitched, so I thought it was a baby or a child, but when I got close to the origin of it, all I could see was a small green creature with a malicious smile. I could hear Arthur shouting me to get out of there, but then I felt a pain on my chest, the creature stabbed me with a sword, making me fell on the place.

                Then Arthur got off from the wagon shouting “goblins” unsheathing two daggers and attacking the one that stabbed me. The goblin’s head rolled down cut by the combine daggers attack, just like a pair of scissors. But it wasn’t over, it was just the bait of an ambush; a big group of goblins left their hideouts, a total of 20 or 30 approximately, too many for a single warrior. Arthur already knew this, and was cornered at the wagon remains, just at the side of my body. This is the end.

                But that was just an illusion, of course it wasn’t the end, otherwise I wouldn’t be writing this. Is true that I was on the floor with a sword on my chest; is true that Arthur couldn’t possibly win against so many. But what the goblins couldn’t foresee was what happens next. I still remember the surprised looks of everyone when I rise up and started talking like nothing – that was mean… you know how much hurts to be stabbed by a sword? I even used my best clothes to see the duke and look, now they are all messed up… you are going to pay for this – I grabbed the sword and pulled it out in one movement, throwing it at the floor. The blood coming from the wound stopped and then it was closed, not leaving a scar.

                At first the goblins stopped their movements and looked at me, without knowing what to do, but then they relied on their numbers and attacked all together. I wasn’t used to fight, damn I didn’t fight even once, but I still remember the feeling I had when I was still half-dragon; at that time I felt stronger than anyone. I recalled that feeling and the runes on my hands starting glowing, just like when Seara appears, but this time he didn’t. Instead, a pair of shining claws appeared on my hands and my body felt lighter than ever. I started attacking the goblins, one by one, with movements I didn’t make before but that felt as if I used them forever.

                One hit, two hits; I was avoiding all the attacks and countering them with deadly claw attacks, sometimes slashing with them and others stabbing. I was in frenzy, not thinking about nothing just wanted to feel the urge to cut and kill, to destroy everything ahead of me, everything. There was one goblin that tried to attack me by surprise, then I instinctively raised my arm and a new glowing came from the tribal tattoos on it. The sword touched my arm, but couldn’t cut it; a steel scale armguard covered my whole arm, strong enough to break the enemy’s sword with ease. I continued like that a while, slashing whatever I see until there was just one foe left. His begging expression and shouts woke me up from the trance, becoming conscientious of my acts. I killed them with my own hands and even enjoyed it… it was despicable…

                The goblin saw my doubt and took his chance, trying to cut off my head; it was too late for me to dodge it, he was too close. I closed my eyes waiting for my dead, but it never came. When I opened my eyes, I saw a dagger sticking from the goblin’s head; he was dead. I looked behind me and saw Arthur smiling with his remaining dagger on the left hand – be glad my aim is good, otherwise the dead one might be you– I let out a relief and tired laugh, too many emotions for today… after that we continued our journey to the duke’s palace.

                A few hours later, we arrived at our destination; it was already time for audience, we even arrived a bit later, but still entered the room to talk with the duke. I apologized at the duke and explained him that I was attacked on my way here, reason I was late. He looked like he understood; it wasn’t the first attack from them so it wasn’t uncommon to be attacked in these roads. I told him first about the village request, he then told me to take seeds from the “black medusa” a tree unique to Keppen. My second request was hardest, the black magic was too old and its use was considered taboo to wizards, but maybe the royal library could have some information. Of course it wasn’t going to be free; he wanted to ask a request too.

                He told me about the problems they were having with the goblins at north, I already experienced it beforehand. He said that they took an important object, important enough to be taken back. Lastly I presented him Arthur, and said that he saved my life, Arthur said the same thing about me, so it was kind of confusing. The duke said that he was waiting for him, Arthur was a bounty-hunter hired by the duchy to eradicate the goblin’s threat. The three of us decided then that Arthur and I will work together, that way our success chance would be higher.

                And like that we left Keppen, northwest direction, heading to the place where no one came back from, Uruk Vadokan. I hope tomorrow I can continue writing the diary; that would mean I’m still alive…

May 4th, 2011

The journey to Meilla was really tiring; Arthur and I had to turn each other to sleep, in case of a goblin attack. We also had to avoid the common roads, turning off from time to time, making the travel longer. Sometimes we could have a moment of peace, hiding on forest to let the horses rest; at those times the young bounty-hunter would talk to me until he runs out of breath. He first asked me about the goblins incident, about the magic I used and who trained me. The string of questions let me speechless for a moment, with a nervous smile on my face; then I tried to answered him, saying that it was a common elf magic and that I was taught by the elder; it was a lie of course, Erestor advised me already not to tell anything about my “origins” and the black magic to anyone else.

                After answering his answers, Arthur looked a little disappointed; maybe it was a too simple reply. When I asked him about his situation, Arthur just told me that he was a wandering mercenary; normally hunting big guys or monsters to earn the reward, but there were times that he was hired as a bodyguard, a messenger or even as a… He stopped his sentence uncomfortably, maybe realizing he was saying something that I shouldn’t hear; now that I think about it, it was too obvious but I guess that the situation we were already was hard enough to begin distrusting each other. Still I couldn’t get off of me this feeling, like something wasn’t right.

                Since Arthur was with me, Seara didn’t appear; looks like he doesn’t like strangers. Sometimes in our way to Urok Vadokan, I could see Arthur sharpening his daggers with a small rectangular stone; looks like they are well preserved so must be important ones. I was about to ask him about them, but a bad presentiment stopped me from doing it. Maybe the answer to that question may have been a dark one.

                The afternoon of the second day, we arrived at Meilla frontiers; a large fortification could be seen from our location, Urok Vadokan was in front of our eyes. Of course the vigilance was strict; groups of little green creatures could be seen walking around the building. I looked at Arthur, asking for his advice; but he was amaze by what he saw, looks like he was hired to eradicate the goblin plague, but this was just too much. Seeing that he couldn’t take the initiative, I got down from the wagon and guided the horses to the forest insides; this would just stand out a lot. After tying them back, I scratched a small sign on the outside tree, that way I would remember where I hided them.

                Arthur got down from the wagon and followed me to the road, looks like the confidence he had all the way disappeared in just a glance at our enemies. I smack him softly on the back and tried to comfort him, staying here without doing nothing would be a waste of our travel. Yet not so sure, he followed me through the secondary roads; they were inaccessible by road and was a pain to walk through, but they were safer and still better than walking at the woods. We climbed down a few drops, evaded the guards and crossed a shallow river reaching at least to Urok Vadokan territory.

                As I though, the vigilance at the surrounding area was poor, but the ones guarding the fortification walls weren’t going to be fool that easily. We could try to charge them head on, but I didn’t feel like experiencing the slaughter from the last time, I just wasn’t ready for that again; we could try to bait them out too, but either they were well trained or plainly stupid, they just wouldn’t stop their patrols; maybe underground… forget it, the basement floor would be too hard and maybe we would be buried alive.

                I looked at the sky, if we just could fly over the building, that would be so easy… wait, I CAN fly, at least I can grow wings, after all I did grow claws at the fight on the road. I focused my mind on the tattoos on my back, the ones wing-shaped; but nothing happened, I wonder what happened back then that I could grow claws. I tried to remember it, the trance I was drowning in, the strange pleasure that I got when my claws cut through the meat; was I always like that? I don’t want that. When I thought about it a sharp pain came to my head, strong enough to make me lose my strength.

                Arthur was observing the patrols, but then took a look at me, writhing on pain. Looks like he wasn’t sure what to do, after all we were at a mission and this could bring problems, so he just tried to call me. But my mind was wracked by pain, so much pain; and then it suddenly disappeared. When I opened my eyes I wasn’t hiding on the forest, but in a complete darkness, floating. From the nothingness, a huge eye opened, showing a vertical pupil just like Seara. But this one was bright red and a light came from it, a feeling of discomfort covered my body, but later I felt at ease, like if I passed through a gelatin wall.

                Not a sound was made, but a voice echoed on my head. It sounded old and wise, but sad and tormented. – Young boy, I chosen you as the successor, why won’t you accept this gift? Oh, so you are afraid of it, do not be, for it isn’t a frightful power. You may use it to protect or destroy; it will be your choice. Do not be afraid by the pleasant feeling you will get when using it, is just a freedom sensation; the dragon has been imprisoned too long. What dragon do you ask? He is you and yet it isn’t, you are you and yet you aren’t. Is still too soon for answers young outsider, but you will get them; eventually.” – The eye was closed, and then an explosion of light came from it, covering the darkness completely.

                When I opened my eyes, just a second happened on reality, but for me it was a few hours; looks like time was different in that “place”.  Arthur face looked kind of worried, but his duty was more important so his morality was split in two. I smiled back at him and told him I was okay, it was just a brief headache. Then I remembered the “eye” voice, “do not be afraid” I remembered the time I got my claws out, the freedom sensation I got; I tried to avoid the slaughtering scenes and focused on my movements, the agility I displayed, the joy I was showing; that can’t possibly be something bad…

                I gathered those thoughts and focused on my back, creating the image of two big wings on my mind. Like if it were a natural thing for my body, a pair of black wings sprout thought my shirt, tearing it almost completely. I just got rid of the suit then, even if it was one of my best it was already unusable. Arthur was looking at me with an incredulous look on his eyes, I can understand him; the first time I surely had the same face.

                I waited a moment until he recovered his breath and then, without losing a second, told him about my plan; a really basic one. He just had to make a racket and attract the patrols attention, even if we couldn’t baited them out with cheap tricks, an intruder should be good enough. He didn’t agree at first, saying that his work was to killed the goblins; so I suggested him to ambushed the ones he could get to follow him, even for a big group, fast stealthy attack would take them, and looks like it was Arthur specialty.

                He finally agreed, but it took me time to convince him. Arthur got out from the hiding place and began running one way to another, shouting and insulting the goblins; it was so obvious… Still the goblins followed after him, look like the taunting was really effective against them; 1, 4, 9, 16, 34… ok he is in problems… I will give him a hand, but first I need to retrieve the item that the duke asked me for, so I began flapping my wings at the plains, outside the enemy eyesight. Just like the claws, the wings felt really natural to me, just a few seconds later I was already flying high.

                The mission was a success, I passed the walls unnoticed; the attention was fixed on the intruder. Of course I was an elf, so even if I entered unnoticed, if anyone saw me I would be in problems, big ones. I entered stealthy at one of the barracks, even at the alarm there were some goblins sleeping on the beds, it was night after all. Their snoring was so strong that I couldn’t possibly have awakened them with my steps; I guess they are really confident with their external security. I took one of the armors at the room and modified it with magic to fix it to my body; this was one of the first and most useful tricks I learnt at the village.

                Even with the armor, I was still taller than these goblins, so I’m sure it would still be bad if anybody found me; at least wearing their armor they would be sure of my identity before instead of killing me… I hope so. Just when I was walking through a corridor, I heard voices from the other side, so I opened the door next to me and entered it. I was lucky, because I could hear more and more goblins coming and going out from here, damn I thought they were sleeping, something must have happened. At least I bring the diary with me… at least I can kill the time a while…

May 5th, 2011

I was hidden on that room a few hours, natural light was already slipping from the gap under the door; it was already dawn. When I finally stopped hearing the goblins steps and voices, I turned the door handle slowly, trying to do not make a sound; fortunately, the corridor was empty again and I could slip through the hideout insides without being noticed. The walls around me were dirty and sometimes burnt, the floor was stained with blood and I had to be careful to not step on something noisy, like a puddle; yeah there were rotten water puddles inside this place, so gross.

                Even if I were lucky, it doesn’t mean that this wasn’t a fortification; there are guards in almost every hall and I had to be careful so I wouldn’t be found. Using clean water from my canteen and a piece of wood, I made a mirror just like at the village. It wasn’t that high quality, but, using levitation magic, I could use it to spy the halls, looking for guards. Thanks to that I wasn’t yet discovered because I avoid meeting them face to face; looks like they can’t notice my difference in height from far away.

                There was once when two guards were talking at the end of a corridor and thanks to the translation spell casted on me I could understand them. Even with the spell, their voices were strange and hard to listen, just like if they were eating some letters while talking; at least I could hear a fragment of their “conversation”: one human rogue infiltrated the base and a group of goblins chased after him, without coming back. That must have been Arthur, looks like he was doing well enough; but there were so many after him, will he be fine? I guess there is no point worrying about him, but at least I should hurry.

                Now that I think about it, the duke didn’t told me anything about the item I had to retrieve, just that it was stolen from a wagon and bring here, if these beasts have a treasure room, then I should head over there, the question is: Where it is? I have a few options; to search over the entire place looking for a shiny room, treasures shine right? To listen to different conversations hoping I would hear anything about it, I was lucky today but that is unlikely; and the last and riskiest, to interrogate a lonely goblin. I didn’t have time to look for the room; Arthur probably needed help, so I chose the last one.

                 After a few minutes, I found a goblin guard leaning alone on the wall, looks like he wasn’t trying very hard on his duty; just at his side there was a door, call that an ideal situation. I focused on the door and opened it slowly, making a creak sound that alerted the goblin; intentionally of course. Just as I anticipated, the goblin took a look inside the room, raising his guard; when he was inside it, I stealthy followed him, closing the door behind me. Before he could make any sound, I materialize a claw and jumped to him, closing his mouth with a hand, immobilizing his right arm with my left knee, his chest with my right knee and placing my claw at his neck; it happened too fast, but really fluid, just like the last fight.

                At first he tried to get rid of me, but when I pressed the sharp claws on his skin and a thread of blood covered his armor, the creature frozen; looks like they can feel the fear of death too. But still, when I asked him about the treasure room he acted dumb at first and when I insisted he got aggressive, looks like the death for them was better than treason; to be honest, I don’t understand the soldiers. I tried getting the truth out of him, but the longer I tried the worse the situation became; finally I had to tied and gaged him up, otherwise his shouts would have alert everyone close.

                I failed at first, but I wouldn’t give up so easily; I remember from the elder that the white magic could be used for more things than healing; things related to the body, like the mind. Considering that possibility, I moved my hand to the goblin’s head and place it on his forehead. He was looking at me with surprise at first, not knowing what I was trying to do. When I concentrated on the link between my hand and his brain, I could feel an electric charge coming from it, but a barrier was stopping it; his will didn’t let me to mess with his mind. Just when I was about to give up, a voice resounded on my head. – “No barrier can stop a dragon’s fire” – my head hurt for a moment and then two flaming horns appeared on my forehead. They weren’t horns made from bones nor they sprout from inside, they were just two white flames sticking to my skin, without burning it.

                I didn’t know what that was, but I placed my hand on the gobbling forehead again on impulse. The same thing happened, an electrical charge would come to my hand and an invisible barrier would stop it. But this time something else happened; the barrier was covered by an undying flame and it was melted down like ice, letting the energy passed through it. When my hand received that energy, an infinite amount of images and data plunged onto my mind. It was chaotic in the beginning, but I learnt in just a few seconds how to arrange it. Looking through the images, I “draw” in my mind a fortification plan, from the goblin’s memories of it. When I opened my eyes, one of them was covered by one of the white flames; from it I could see the plan I made in my head, even the treasure room and my present location were marked, I like this strange magic.

                Thanks to the plan, I arrived with ease at the treasure room. It was locked, but I just had to open the latch with levitation magic; it really bugs me how magic can makes everything so unsafe. Once inside the chamber, I could see a few interesting objects around me, most of them old relics without an apparent use. But there was one item at a pedestal, enhancing his importance. It was just a golden little box, with different jewels set on it; it looked really expensive at first glance. I don’t know if the reason was destiny or just curiosity, but something made me open the box. Inside there was just a small black egg, it remind me of the one at the underground room, but a lot smaller. When I touched it, it gleamed a moment and then I felt an energy entering my body and stopping on my feet. A little frightened, I took a look at my feet; a pair of paw-like tattoos appeared on them.

                I wanted to discover what happened, but the voice of a few goblins on the corridor remembered me that it wasn’t the right time. I took the golden box and run to the exit; I already spent too much time in stealth, Arthur may be in danger. A few goblins tried to catch me, but I was faster than them; I could get out from the fortification without being caught and with the mission item on my hands, a success. But it wasn’t over yet, once outside I used the flame to look for Arthur, looks like it can increase my sight and even detect heat, so it was rather easy. He was surrounded by a bunch of goblins and a few corpses were around him, looks like he was having fun, maybe too much. While running to his way, I spread my wings and jumped on the air, flying to Arthur at top speed.

                The landing was a bit forced because of the trees, I bumped against one of the goblins and fell on another; at least I ended unhurt. I told Arthur to prepare the wagon while I stop the goblins here, it wasn’t necessary to repeat it to him; he was too tired to continue fighting. The goblins charged against me, but I could keep them there with wind coming from my wings flapping; I don’t want to kill them if it isn’t necessary. I didn’t have to wait too much, Arthur was already waiting for me with the wagon ready; now I just had to prevent the goblins from chasing us. Taking advantage that the road was covered with trees at the sides, I focused my energy on a few of them, making them to grow their branches and intertwine between them, creating a natural wall.

                Once the danger ended, or at least postponing it, I jumped to the wagon and told Arthur to make the horses run fastest than ever. We ended the day tired, bruised or injured, but in one piece; I think that is good enough for now. Let’s go back to Keppen…