1Long ago a prophecy foretold
Of a Hero's rising clothed in Gold
With his strength and his power
He'd protect the weak
The downtrodden, humble and meek.
The world he will save by pure will heart
Provided he first shops at his Maple Bargain Mart.
His sword and a shield just ninety nine messos
His armor and magic plus two elven bracers
Just Ninety nine messos you say?
Now that's a bargain that all heroes can pay.
I watched in half amusement as a bunch of men and women in red and white attire sang and danced while a suited up Crimson Balrog was beaten back by the so called chosen one with his undoubtedly trustworthy bargain sword and buy one free one shield.
Drunk people with night time advertisements on and the phone beside, the world's most dangerous combination ever. It wasn't uncommon for someone to have sat beside through the late night commercials with their phones within reach only to find the next morning they had purchased a legendary sword of smiting , two batch of shuriken with added ninja attachments and a Jr Pepe paddling pool all within the same night.
Luckily my phone was all the way upstairs well out of my reach.
I turned my attention back to the screen. Now they were airing a new TV series, recounting the stories of how the chosen one had found his one true love on the battlefield during his adventures. The hero Zerion swept past the love of his life to confront the villain a man with tendrils of shadows curling about his like wisp. Six foot tall with a midnight black sword in his hands, a enormous raven cawed and swooped around the pair of the the two rounded each other with murderous intent.
I sipped the red and white can of beer . This was good stuff, whoever thought that the fourth remake of "Revolt of the Archers" would be the best one ever. I suppose the special effects crew had to be applauded, fireballs roared from the bow of Zerion Phoenix. While rolling waves of shadows pounded the walls of the castle sending rocks the size of airships crashing down about them as he fought valiantly to protect his one true love.
"GIVE HER BACK !" the hero snarled unleashing a spell that blew apart a rock sending shards scattering across the throne room.
Suddenly the television cackled , the image of Zerion went fuzzy and blinked twice. Blip. The television went blank. Curses. Right at the good bits too. Sighing I stood up , the clicking my fingers a burst of fire lit up like a cigarette lighter flame. The breaker box was down in the basement several switches had flipped. Kerning City construction had done it again. I went upstairs to dial the Television company, maybe they had a night desk I could confuse and befuddle for a few hours. And then maybe they'd hand me a number to dial in the morning when the actual people showed up so I could go over there to confuse and befuddle some other people higher up the command chain. Convince them that a short circuited telly had cost me a small fortune so that they could give me a few extra channels for free. It was a low move but I'd always wanted to watch "Dragon of the stars" one of the better paid Tv shows. Penny pinching was an art that people rarely that not many had bothered to master.
THUNK! A box fell off the shelf as I climbed back up the basement stairs.
I stopped and turned around, the box laid open its contents spilled across the floor. As I drew closer I saw old photos, fridge magnets, medals as I shoveled them back into their box returned it to the shelf. Something glinted among my belongings . My eyes flashed towards it, heart skipped a beat for a second. I picked it up. A bow. I reached out and grasped the rough dark leather bound handle. Only one limb had managed to escape the wrath of endless dust bunnies that had invaded my basement. Carefully I picked the dust away and ran it under the sink wiping the grime and small flecks of what looked like dried blood off bit by bit.
Amazingly the previous user had kept it in good condition. The bow strings were made of fire resistant drake gut strings treated with Balrog horn powder. I'd seen some of the bows used by the older archers in my academy use it.
"Astaros, the midnight star." The silver words laced the limbs of the bow flared to life glowing in the gloomy basement. I cried out in surprise dropping it. The words lifted off the bow and shot across the room encircling one of the shelves so fast they looked like a silver ribbon.
I stood up slowly and approached the shelf; the words erupted into a puff of silver dust. On the section of the shelf was a book, a plain spiral book, like the bow it was mostly covered in dirt and dust. I flipped it open. The ink smudged yellowed pages did not make for easy reading.
12th winter night, the 22th leaf year
It's so cold out here you could freeze the balls of a brass Lupin. Seriously though, El-Nath on winter nights is not a fun frosty affair for the family. My company has gotten through most of the tower back to Orbis but the short supply of teleport scrolls and warp stones are slowing us down somewhat.
I've just transported our 3rd job qualified thieves and Warriors back to the headquarters, they're scarred and some of them have been given quite a beating, those job advancements get trickier every year. They're all grinning and laughing though, so that's good. Some of them can barely stand properly and are still asking to go for a couple of drinks down at the After Midnight City Bar. Happy Hours at ten till midnight, they're going to drink themselves absolutely stupid come the next day.
Nox, our youngest thief surprisingly has been the least bruised of the lot. They're cheering and taunting him. I haven't even reached the base and yet the hip flasks have already been opened in his honor. God only know where some of them manage to hide all that liquor. But tonight I'm pretty much off duty and the 13th maple year sake is cold and tastes like dragon fire according to some of them. I do like good sake, and who could possibly say no to one that tastes like dragon fire?
I'm looking at these kids right now, I admire them truth be told. They're not living in easy times, some of them have never known a holiday on the Florina beaches. Half of them have no parents and the other half don't want to see their parents. Every day they train day in and day out. Even their idea of fun is seeing who can drink the most without getting violently sick. Before we'd established the armed forces in Victoria and the enrolment system to draft more soldiers you could do whatever the heck you wanted. Go on adventures, Stay at home, sleep in till noon. Good god I'm in my thirties and I'm sounding just like my grandfather. I'd better go yell at them to get a move on before we all freeze to death out here.
13th winter morning. The 22nd leaf year.
Just as I suspected, most of them could barely walk in a straight line. Except for Andrea being the only mildly sober one there she helped me drag their sorry asses out of bed. I reschedules physical training to 7:30, no sense making them run laps if some of them could barely crawl their way to the dining room. By 7:30 with much cussing, groaning and general complaining they made it to the tracks. Almost all of them with sunglasses and the rest of them are clutching their heads. They made good target practice though, every time they stopped running I got to fire shock arrows at them nothing deadly of course but there's something immensely satisfying about hearing a tiny pop sound followed by a yelp. By the time it was over they looked just about ready to lynch mob me.
I received a letter by messenger from our scouts. Fights have started in Edelstein, and soon to Lith harbor. Propaganda has reached the edges of Victoria and completely taken over the smaller Ossyaria city states. Athena may decide to cut some ties with the outer countries to protect Victoria and to protect us but to do so would risk the fragile support of our allies. The black mage has attempted to drive a wedge between us and Ossyria the elves with their poisoned forest refuse to send more help. Running defense on two fronts is wearing them thin.
We have released some of our own counter measures. Advertising that Victoria has already established a firm base of support and is waiting for more allies before launching an attack is buying us some time and some friends that are badly informed. Thank god for Erev funding our communications network, but it won't last forever. In truth we have as much of a firm base of support as a dragon sitting on toothpicks.
The kids don't know the full story yet. They'll hear some whispers here and there but Athena has done a good job with her code of silence. There won't be a code of silence when TX-300 acid based artillery start falling out of the sky but maybe I'll tell them some other time. Let them keep their fun for just a bit longer.