Post by Crow on Jun 30, 2010 6:19:54 GMT -5
Prologue: The Long Sword, The Heavy Axe, and The Kind Old Man!
“erhhh!” the muffled grunt was barely audible, as sounded off in the forest a heavy object smashed against one of the nearby tree's. “Damn.... it..! Stand still... You Geezer..!” The shout was almost inaudible, heavy breathing stopped most of the words from being more than a cough. Several more thuds on the ground and bark from nearby tree's flew off in several different directions. Anyone who couldn't see what was happening could easily have mistaken the sounds as a beast that was rampaging through the otherwise quiet forest. A young boy, No older than eight or nine, was leaning over a thick tree branch, head raised to the sky as if trying to drink the air from an invisible cup. His Ebony hair grew wild and in seperate directions, but his sweat drenched forehead kept it from any normal swaying. “I... can’t… hit you…” He breathed in and out, finding it easier to talk with every breath.
“Poor little Volke!” The squeaking voice mocked and chided with almost every syllable. “Is the little Baby gunna fall over? Do you need a break? Ha ha!” Volke instantly began searching for the source of the taunts. His teeth grit in frustration kept him from shouting back. “Damn you really Suck at this stuff Volke!” The voice chided over and over.
Volke's eyes twitched as he saw A brilliant red patch, barely the color of fresh strawberries, was sticking out of a nearby bush. The taunting voice gasped and ducked down a little lower, obviously trying to hide where he was. “I… can see you there… Strawberry brains!” Volke shouted at the bushes. Not a second later the red sprang up from the bush as another boy about the same age jumped out of the bushes and towards Volke.
“Who are you calling strawberry? You Salt and Pepper bastard!” The red haired boy shouted back at Lance with passion. “At least my Hair’s one color!” He slowly made his way over, trudging along with whatever he was carrying. He was obviously attached to whatever he had, because, despite the close distance between the two, he had to stop several times to take a break. Lance clutched the tool in his hands and the skin around his knuckles slowly edged white. “oh, you gunna swing that at me? Better be careful not to hit the tree again!”
Lance grimaced, his hands were covered in blisters and his grip on the stick wasn’t helping them at all. “With a head as big as yours, I don’t have to worry about missing…” Lance chuckled as the other boys face turned the same shade red as his hair.
“You take that back! I’ll smash you to pieces!” With obvious effort the red head picked up what he was carrying and unwrapped his dulled practice axe. The wooden axe was splintered on the blade where it had smashed against other wood and perhaps the ground, many times. The Axe came down with an audible crash and rocks flew off in every direction, but Lance was standing some feet away by then.
“That big axe of yours is useless Cloud… I’m out of your range, but you’re still in mine.” Lance chided with a smirk. Wobbling in his hands was a wooden practice sword taped to another, giving it the appearance of a single long sword. With genuine effort he swung sideways as hard as he could, determined to shut his friend up for good.
“We’ll see about that! My tough body can stand against a hundred of your scrawny attacks!” Cloud rushed at Lance head on, openly hoping he could still stand, let alone swing his axe, at Lance after the sword hit. He closed his eyes and began to close the distance between the two as the sword swept at him.
“Now Now, Boys, I thought I told you not to settle your arguments with your weapons…” The voice was gentle, but at the same time carried command with it. He was an older man, obviously past his fifties, and though he had a fierce expression full of scars and markings he also smiled. His body looked weak and small, almost like you could accidentally break a bone by patting him to hard, but his presence was that of a hardened warrior. The old man himself seemed to embody the very word contradiction. Quickly both boys stopped there assault on each other and bowed to the old man they had forgotten was there. “What were you arguing about today I wonder..?”
Cloud answered first, after looking over at Lance, Who seemed to lost in his own thoughts to answer for himself. “He called me Strawberry again! So I called him Salt and Pepper, then he said I had a big head and I tried to smash him with my Axe!” He tried to pick up his axe, but just carrying it around was taking it’s toll on his arms, and he couldn’t do so.
Lance still seemed to be thinking when the Old man looked over to him for confirmation. “Lance, is that right?”
Without so much as a warning Lance picked up his sword and swung as hard and as fast as he could “Now I’ve got you!” He cried, obviously aiming at the old man. Without really intending to he missed his intended target and embedded the sword into the trunk of the tree that he was standing next to. “Damn it!”
“You fool! Attacking me out of the blue like that!” With a quick knock to the back of the head, Lance became drowsy and quickly fell into unconscious, Coming back around about ten minutes later.
“ “Ow, son of a-“ Lance rubbed the back of his head and groaned when he came across the lump that had been put there by the old man’s fist. He opened his eyes and looked around, to his astonishment he was back at their camp, in his tent no less. The rustling of leaves outside told him someone was coming in.
“You awake in there Lance? I didn’t mean to hit you that hard, you surprised me there” The old man’s voice filled the air and so did his laugh.
"Sorry Old man, I didn't mean to, but you did tell me to hit you no matter what.." With a hint of broken pride he acknowledged that he didn't actually complete this task, though he wasn't surprised. “Master Jax, I know I’ve asked you this a lot, but can you give me a straight answer for once? Why did you take up two Orphans like me and Strawberry? I mean, you were once a renowned hero to some country right? Even some of those snooty nobles look at you with smiles and handshakes…”
The direction of Lances thoughts obviously disturbed Jax, though he tried not to show it. “I guess I do dance around this topic the best I can, but If you really want to know I guess I can tell you.” He glanced over his shoulder and smirked at the red patch of hair sticking up near the desk area. “Do you want to hear it to Cloud?”
Cloud came out from hiding as soon as he’d heard his name. Red in the face again, this time from embarrassment from being caught. “Don’t call me Strawberry, Salt and Pepper!” He shouted at the resting Lance, who didn’t even acknowledge that Cloud was present. He just kept staring at Jax. Without any real challenge Cloud just nodded and sat down on the sleeping bag at Lances feet and looked up at his Master expectantly.
“Very well, How to start this tale…” He laughed like it was some big fairy tail he’d loved to tell, though he never actually talked about it. “I know, we’ll start with one of my favorites! The traveling Master Mercenary named Jason Axel. As I have told you many times, this man was something! He was my master, and he was well known among The nobles of this great country of Begnion..” Jax stopped to take a breath and looked at the gleaming faces of his students. “Now, as this man traveled he did every little job he could, and helped everyone he met. Sometimes, even though he was a mercenary who worked for money, he did things for free for people who were not as fortunate as others. As he grew Older though, he realized that even though he was loved by a lot of people, he didn‘t truly love another. It saddened him to know his only legacy was that of deeds, and that there was none who would continue on after he was gone. With this thought heavy on his mind he continued his long travels.”
Cloud yawned sleepily, but still gleamed while he stared at his masters face. He knew what was coming next, and even though it was painful for Cloud to think about he smiled.
“Now, Jason was a brilliant man, but he could not be everywhere, something he found out harshly. He chanced upon a burning village, apparently attacked by roving bandits. He found no traces of any women, and many a broken bodies of young and old men. He took time to bury each and every one, setting up personal unmarked graves for them all outside the village and vowed to report this to the next town he came across. As he was about to Leave, the shriek of a child stopped him in his tracks.” A tear gleamed down The old man’s face, and he had to stop to wipe it off. “My Master found me buried in a smashed house, he hadn’t even realized I’d been there until I screamed. He quickly took me up, I was four at that time, and found that I was what he had been searching for. He called me The Son that was given to him by the Goddess herself. Now I won’t bore you two with my story, because I followed in my Master’s footsteps and traveled the world in his name. Which I took for the most part, Joshua Axel Black… he named me that day.”
Lance already knew all this, and sat undaunted by the story. Cloud, who also knew this, on the other hand his eyes gleamed almost as bright as the sun its self. “we already know that Story master… But it doesn’t answer my question.” Lance complained, and Cloud looked over at him with chagrin.
Jax chuckled, he knew that Lance would not be satisfied until his question was answered. “Because I wanted to be like My master, I found you two in separate villages that had both been demolished.” With a sigh he seemed to reminisce while Lance thought it over.
“So you want us, when we get older, to travel the continent and fix other people’s problems?” Lance seemed annoyed at this, but would never voice it to his master, whom he owed his life.
“No, heavens no!” Jax smiled and tried to bat away a buzzing fly around him. “My master was a caring man, he told me several times that he didn’t want me following in his foot steps, that I needed to forge my own path, but I was stubborn. I followed him anyway… I ask that you two do not do the same as me, because even though I was once loved by many I was cast aside when it was my time. For you, my sons, I want something greater. The two of you have more potential than I could ever have and I hope that you use it to fulfill your own desires, no matter what they may be.”
Lance looked taken aback, and Cloud’s eyes gleamed even brighter after being called someone‘s son. Lance smiled finally, satisfied with what he had heard and rolled over in his sleeping area, and thought about what his master had said. After dinner, the lights were blown out and the trio fell into a quiet sleep.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Three years of harsh training later, Lance and Cloud held the final Funeral services for their Master by themselves. They buried him with a large rock near the top of a mountain and took time engraving the rock to be a headstone. The two of them traveled abroad for a year together, training themselves to their fullest and worked as mercenaries to live, During one of their final trips together to the grand city of Mellor in the Central country of Begnion, they decided to part ways. Cloud and Lance said there farewells, and after vowing to become strong enough that they didn’t lose to anyone, including each other, they separated. Cloud Black, who had taken his Master last name, Ventured East Towards the warring country of Daein. He learned there were chances of everyday people, who were strong enough to survive there, that could become famous in Daein. Thus he set off to seek his own personal glory. Lance headed West, towards the diplomatic country known as Crimea. He had heard that there were many types of swords styles that he thought he could mold into his own there to help improve his own personal style. Thus the two brothers parted company at the center of the world, but destiny and the will of the Goddess had special plans in store for these two. There journeys together had only halted, for time would drag them together to Clash with the very foundations that made them
