Chapter 4 : Truth Unraveled

“Remember me, Tom? I hope you haven’t forgotten about me yet, because I haven’t Tom.” Renshaw said, in his calm voice.

“What is the meaning of this? How come a group of shrine destroyer mingles with army from another country? Unless…” Tom said.

“I know what you are thinking, and the answer is yes, I or the so-called shrine destroyer is a part of the Scrown Purist Army. All of this is part of our great king scheme.”

“Scrown Purist Army? What is the meaning of that?”

“I hate to talk for too long, but for this occasion only, considering all of you soon will meet your maker, I will be tolerant for a bit. I, as you all know, am Renshaw Bellamy, commander of Scrown Purist Army, Scrown Kingdom army, in charge of purifying the southern side. I am also a member of The Five Purist Warrior, the most elite group in Scrown Purist Army. We…”

“Five Purist Warrior? What is that again?”

“Don’t interrupt me when I am talking, or don’t your parent teach you manner? We are special unit who receive order directly from our great king, Lord Schuuster, and are blessed with extraordinary power that you won’t be able to imagine!”

“To hell with that! What your bastard king wants actually?” one of the wounded militiaman said.

At first, Renshaw didn’t react. Then, suddenly he disappeared, and the next second, he is in front of that man, and another second, that poor man is split into three. Before anybody can react, Renshaw has walked back calmly to his group.

“Huh? What the…what does this mean?”

“That is the punishment for people who dare to said anything about our king. He is the son of great Skelcrown himself and nobody, even us, can speak anything bad about him! Not that we will do it, anyway,” Renshaw replied, still in his calm voice.

“Last question, what is your motive?” Tom said in a voice trembling with anger.

“Our motive? Oh yeah, we are on a mission to purify this land from the filthy blood, like you people.”

“That’s all I need to know! Now, all of you, die!!!” Tom shouted, as he and his group charged forward.

The Scrown soldiers also charged forward, and the battle begin. With what seem to be very unbalanced battle, it seems that this battle shall end soon. But, Leo, Tom, and Hagol give such a great fight that after almost half of the Scrown soldiers is either killed or wounded, that they managed to be cornered.

“Impressive, very impressive. But this is the end for you all. The game ends here. Any last word?” Renshaw said.

“Never!!!” Leo, Tom and Hagol said it at the same time, although this seems to be an empty threat. All of them are wounded on every parts of their body, and seems unable to continue the fight any longer. Tom suffered the most wound.

“I will not expect less. But before that, catch this, Tom,” Renshaw said as he threw something onto Tom.

Tom catches it with one hand. And is totally surprised with the thing he is holding.

Leona necklace.

“What does this mean!?” Tom asked, in a trembling voice.

“Oh… so you do not recognize the necklace of your dearest one?”

“Impossible, how could this be?”

“Yes, it could be, as you have seen yourself.”

“How does this happen?”

“I will tell you, but only if you fight well.” After saying this, Renshaw held his sword up.

“Damn it. Die you!” Tom shouted and charged forward. So does Leo and Hagol.

Tom fights madly. He swings his sword here and there without aiming really well. This causes Renshaw to be able to block all his attack. Leo and Hagol fight well, but their stamina is running low.

“Hah! Is this your best shot? I am unimpressed at all. If you want me to tell you, do it better!” Renshaw provoked Tom.

“You will get it!” Tom shouted, and his swing is more forceful than ever. But still the blow is not enough to hurt Renshaw even a bit.

“I am beginning to get bored, Tom. I guess the game ends here.”

And with one deadly and accurate blow, he hit Tom’s sword so hard that both swords are shattered. Tom can hardly take the shock on his hand and falls to the ground as the result. His hand feels dead.

“Well, before I deliver the finishing blow, let me tell you how all of this happened. After our last meeting, I quickly ordered my agent to spies on you. In just a few hours, I have known all I need to know about, your house, your family, and your friends. So, when I attacked the city, I left my soldiers to make your two best friends and the city guards busy. I went to your house at once, and see your wife…”

“Why…, why must you disturb my family?” Tom interrupted, still in trembling voice.

Renshaw give a kick to Tom face and Tom face hits the ground. “Haven’t I told you don’t interrupt me? Well, as I was just saying, I found your wife and children. Then I start to chase them. Unfortunately, some of the city guards spring up from nowhere and attacked me. By the time I am finished with them, your family is already gone. I give pursue and with the blessing of Great Skelcrown, I managed to find them beside the river. I launch three quick slash, and I guess it is right on target, because your whole family fell to the river at once.” Now a mad smile on Renshaw face. “It is such a great fun, and after killing them, I found the necklace I just gave to you beside the river, so now I am returning it to you. Aren’t I a considerate person?”

“You….BASTARD!!!” Tom shouted angrily, springs up at once, and with all his strength deliver a very powerful punch with all his might, straight onto Renshaw face. Renshaw, not ready for this, take the punch directly without able to even avoid it a bit. He fell to the ground too.

“How dare you do this, even a thousand death is not good enough for you!” And with that, Tom jump, and kick the face of Renshaw who is just trying to get up directly. Renshaw flew a bit and fell down again with a loud thump voice.

Tom tries to kick Renshaw again, but this time Renshaw is faster. He rolled away and jump up quickly. He wiped away the blood on his mouth and nose.

“You filthy kind! You shall pay for the insolence you just done!” And with that, Renshaw draws out his sword and held it straight. Tom tries to deliver another punch, but this time, Renshaw gives a very powerful kick on Tom stomach, causing Tom to fall to the ground again with a groan.

“Now you die!” Renshaw said, and held his sword highly, ready to swing.

As he was holding the sword highly, an axe suddenly flies to him. Renshaw dodge it just in time. The axe missed him and hit a half burned building instead, and falls to the ground with a loud clanking noise.

“He will not die yet, because we are still here!” Hagol bellowed with his tired yet determined voice.

Chapter 3 : Levogard Under Fire

Tom keeps on running, and finally he is out of the forest. And suddenly, he sees what he had dreaded to see: farmland burning, house razed to the ground, and bodies around. The smell of fresh blood reaches his nose quickly.

“Impossible,” Tom walked past the bodies, his brain unable to receive the horror in front of him. There lies a body near the inn, the man of whom Tom knows: the innkeeper .Tom runs quickly to him.

“Innkeeper, are you alright?” Tom says, as he held up that man.

“To…m?”

“What has happened?”

“There…was a group of man. Those refu…gees, they get to every house and…suddenly they began to slaughter…the residents around. We were unprepared and they fell upon us…and they spare no one.”

“Where are they now?”

“They…are marching to the city…Tom, you…must run for your life.”

“No…I can’t abandon my beloved city and families.”

“It is useless…to fight them Tom, they…are just too many. Ahh…I think this is the end Tom.”

“No, you won’t die, innkeeper!”

But the innkeeper no longer speaks a word, his hand fell to the ground.

“Speak to me, innkeeper” Tom says and repeating it, his voice getting higher and higher, until it becomes a scream of despair.

After a while, he got better of himself, and then gently put down the innkeeper. He closed the innkeeper’s eyes. Then he rise, and begin to walk slowly to the city. The walk gradually become faster and soon he is already running.

Suddenly, two men dressed in black appeared from behind a burning house.

“It’s the filthy blood again, so one of them survived.” One of the Scrown soldier said.

“Well, it will be fun to play with him.” Another one said, or perhaps that is what he intended to say because before he actually finishes his words, his head already left his body.

The second soldier is also slain when he is still amazed by what is happening in front.

“Do not block my way!” Tom said, as he resumed his run again.

Tom head is now filled with hatred and rage. Everywhere he can see corpse of the people, some he recognized as merchant selling goods in market, some are farmers he always say hello to, and many other.

Then he halted for a while when he see a pile of corpse beside the road with a flag in the middle of it. He moved closer to examine.

It is corpses of some Levogard civilians. And as he looked up onto the flag, his rage increased.

On the flag are “The Slave of Scrown, A Tribute to Skelcrown” words. This is becoming unbearable. Scrown soldiers killed his friends and now they have defiled his beloved city and people. “This won’t go unpunished,” Tom says as he chops the flag into two.

Then Tom resumed his running again, this time faster and with much more killing frenzy. Four unlucky Scrown soldiers that stand in his way are chopped down very quickly.

Tom keeps on running until he finally see…Levogard, only this is not the beloved city he used to know anymore.

The city gate has been rammed open. Tom enters and witnesses his last night nightmare once again.

City of Levogard…burned.

Tom walked slowly, his head looked around. The once proudly standing guardhouse beyond the gate is no longer there. Around the guardhouse are quite a lot of Scrown and Levogard soldiers corpses. Tom walked on. Houses burned and its owner lay in front of the house, dead. Tom keeps on walking until he reached the town square. The well on the place have been destroyed, its content defiled. Then he suddenly remembered something: His family.

And with that, he runs quickly to his home.

Passing the Hagol’s house which is already half burned. Is Hagol safe? Leo’s house already burned to the ground. Is he safe too? They should be, if their enemy is some rabble soldiers. But, Tom has a very bad feeling about these things.

He finally reached his house, or what is used to be his house. His house is not burned, it is completely destroyed. Around lay some Levogard soldiers dead, most of them are cut into three pieces. “What does this mean? Are they dead because protecting my wife?” Tom thinks. “If so, who could possibly kill them and turn them into such a pitying state?” But that doesn’t matter anymore.

“Leona? Children?” Tom shouted. No reply.

“Think positive…think positive. If they do not reply, that’s mean they have managed to run away, not…” Tom said to himself.

So he walked around again, keep on calling Leona and children. But still no reply. Every step becomes more frustrating than ever. Until he saw Leo and Hagol. But they are not alone. Together with some militiamen they are facing enemy forces about three times their size.

“I am coming, my friend!” Tom shouted and dash forward.

So the small battle begins. Leo throws himself onto the Scrown soldiers group, bringing down some of the Scrown soldiers to the ground while Leo and the other charge forward. Tom charge onto the rear of the Scrown forces formation. The front guards of the Scrown soldiers are taken care of quickly.

Tom fights like crazy. He thrust here and there. Two Scrown soldiers that try to stop him are bring down to earth mercilessly. Soon, the Scrown company are scattered, but not without cost. Almost all the militiamen perish in the battle and the remaining two or three are badly wounded. Leo runs to their aid immediately.

“So, what has happened Hagol?” Tom asked Hagol.

“Those Scrown bastards, they come suddenly. Me and Leo react quickly. Leo runs to the town bell to alert the guards and civilians while I rush quickly to the gate to help the guards. When I arrive, it is already a losing battle for us. Those scums have spread in. While I tried to stop them, Leo comes with some militiamen and soldiers. The battle is soon joined by both sides, but after some time, our numbers are decreasing quickly. We have to retreat and that give those Scrown soldiers plenty of chances to burn and kill the innocent.”

“Then, do you see Leona and my children?”

“I see her,” Leo suddenly interrupted. “She is bringing the children to safety when I passed her and other women and children. She should be safe.”

“Well, I am glad to hear you s…” Tom never finished his words, because suddenly, in front of him is a group of Scrown soldiers, and in front of them is Renshaw Bellamy.

Chapter 2 : Hunter or Hunted

“Are you sure you wish to go hunting today, dear? After last night incident?”

“I must go, my dear wife. If not, then what should we eat?”

“But…”

“No more but, I have to go. Where is the kids?”

“In their room.”

The two people that is talking is Tom, the other is Leona, Tom wife, fair face with golden hair and average height, and green eyes, a gift of nature.

“Roy! Ron! Dad is going on hunting trip! Do you want anything?” Tom asked the boys in the room.

“We want more toys!” two sounds sounded in unison from inside the room.

“All right, you will have your toys if you behave, OK?”

“OK!!!”

So Tom leave the house and the town alone, bow in his hand and quiver of arrows on his back. The journey to Lusheen forest is fairly smooth. Although not much populated, there are some houses and inn where Tom stayed to have his lunch and buy some bread for dinner.

No event is out of ordinary, except a large group of people, about two hundred, that walked past him from Lusheen Forest, wearing tattered clothes. One of them bumped into him, and do not even says sorry.

“Mute refugee maybe,” Tom thinks. But there is something in their eyes, a look of soldier that cannot be described. It is a grim, cold blooded, and ready to die looks. And it make him shiver a little just by looking at them.

By night, he has reached Lusheen Forest. He quickly started a fire and eat a hasty dinner.

“Rest early, and wake early tomorrow and I will be ready for anything.”

In his sleep, Tom had an uneasy dream. He sees his beloved city in fire and his wife and children calling him for help. Tom tries to move, but suddenly rope ties him, immobilizing him.

And he wakes up, to find out he really has been tied and feels giddy on his head.

It is almost dawn, and he can see ray of light from the east. He looked around to see two men around the campfire that he thinks he saw in the wave of refugees yesterday. Only they are not in tattered rags, but in shiny black armor. On the breastplate is a sign of skull beneath a crown.

“You are Scrown soldiers aren’t you? Why are you binding me?” Tom asked, remembering the mark as Scrown Kingdom symbol.

“Ah, so he is awake?”

“Hmm, the fool of the Levogard. Hey lad, consider you unlucky to have fallen onto us. Today will be the last time you see the sun, so look at it until you are satisfied, for never will you see it again.”

“What is my crime? You don’t have rights to do this.” Tom demanded.

One of the soldiers rises, and gave Tom a hard kick on his chest. Tom groaned.

“You filthy blood, speaks one more word of rights and I swear I will kill you at once. You filthy son of a bitch have no right to speak nor live on this land!” With that, he kicked Tom on his face again.

Tom spurted blood and some fragment of tooth from his mouth. “Damn it. At least two teeth broken, I guess” Tom thinks.

Scrown, a kingdom to the west of Levogard. Nothing much is known from the mysterious kingdom. Only that the people are very devout to Skelcrown, God of War in the religion of Forgotten World. And sudden appearance of whole army of devoted God of War in other kingdom could only mean one thing, conquest, or in softer word, crusade.

“What can I do?” Tom thinks to himself. He tried all his might to free himself from the rope, but the rope is very tight, making him only able to roll. And only by this time, Tom notices that the rope has been tied very neatly too, tying his arms, fingers and feet. The rope also binds his arm with his body. He wonders how they did this. So he asked.

“Hey, how did you manage to tie me without even waking me up?”

One of the soldiers responded: “You remember when I bumped into you? I quickly exchange your bread with bread that had been given sleeping powder. Dozof, one of the most powerful sleeping powders in this land. You won’t be waken up even by earthquake.” And he laughed.

Tom thinks. Yesterday afternoon, he bumped into one of the refugee. He should have known better.

After about an hour, the sun is already very bright. When the sun is already pretty high. Tom captors put off the fire and begin to walk onto him, sword unsheathed.

“Any last word?” One of them asked casually. And suddenly his looks changed when he looked at the sky. “Ahh…So it has begun.”

Tom looked at the sky, and he sees black smoke. This could only mean one thing. The battle has started.

“Let us do this quickly, and join the battle.” Another Scrown soldier said.

He rises his sword, and swings it forcefully onto Tom. However Tom managed to roll, and the sword can only cause little damage on his left arm, but cutting away the rope that binds his arm and body. Now Tom can move his arms. Another Scrown soldier swing his sword onto Tom, and Tom jump up quickly to avoid the fatal blow. But he loses his balance and fall to ground again.

“Die!” The Scrown soldier shouted, and do a direct thrust onto Tom.

Tom quickly rise his feet, and the sword thrust hit Tom right leg, but also unbind his leg.

“Arghhh!!!” Tom groan when that Scrown soldier pull out the sword. But Tom managed to jump up again, this time not losing his balance, but with a momentary painful feeling on his right foot. The wound is not deep.

The second soldier charge quickly onto Tom, but Tom is faster. He give a fatal kick onto that soldier weakest point (which need not be stated here), and that soldier give a long groan before falling to ground, sword released.

The other soldier tried to attack Tom from behind. But Tom rises his arm quickly and caught the sword between his hands. Now, the rope that ties his hand has also been cut away.

Tom grabs the sword on the ground quickly, and run onto his enemy. The soldier tried to swing his sword again, but before he can do that, Tom already makes a heavy swing onto his neck.

That soldier looked surprised, and next second later, the head already left its body. Blood spurted.

Tom turned his head and sees that the second Scrown soldier has recovered from the early blow. The second soldier, seeing his friend dead and he himself is without any weapon, begged for mercy.

“Please….spare my life!”

And as Tom looked onto him, and pity rises from his mind. But suddenly he sees his dream again. His wife and children crying for help, and without realizing it, he swings the sword onto the soldier. Blood spurted, and the soldier fall to the ground.

When Tom realized what he had done, regret comes to his mind immediately.

“It is too late, I can’t do anything. Now I must return to the city quickly.”

He turned to the direction of the city.

And begins to run.

Chapter 1 : Night Patrol

"Throw the ball!"
"No...You don't!"
"Oh no, chase him!"
"Ackkk!"
"Haha...Got you!"
The children are playing ball with each other. Happiness, anger, madness, all blends into one. Some other children are watching, while on their left, a group of girls are playing dolls and all sort of girl stuff. In the horizon, the sun begins to set.
Suddenly, the town bell rungs. People begin to walk to a square in the center of the town. This square is pretty large, with a podium in the middle of it. People begin to encircle the podium in an irregular circle. Children that were playing, some groan, some look eager, are now also in the crowd. Soon, people are assembled.
A man in blue robe steps up onto the podium.
"People of Levogard, today, we gathered to say our prayer to Devagard, the god of Nature!"
"Aye!" the crowd replied. Then they look down.
"Blesusogat, Great Devagard, Wise Devagard, today we gather to ask for your blessing. Please bless us, our parents, our children, our leader, and our town. Bring us rain to grow the crops, save us from your wrath, and if one of us ever did any fault, please forgive us. Tisistenal!" the man in blue robe ends the prayer.
"Tisistenal!" the crowd followed and lift their head again.
"Soon, the crowd dismisses. Most of them return to their home. However, some men dressed in blue with a sword or spear do not return. They wandered the street.
These people are the soldiers and militias of Levogard. They patrol the city at night to ensure the safety. Especially on this dangerous time.
This, is the city of Levogard, a small independent city beside Gengrel River. It is city without a lord; instead the city is governed by a council of elders. They are the one who decide on important decision for this city. Levogard itself relies mostly on agriculture, especially because Gengrel River water current is always steady.

Since few months ago, the city suffered terror from a small group of people that kill and burn. The strange thing is that those people target is always the Devagard shrine. People that tries to stop them are killed mercilessly. Ever since the night patrols are activated, this terror quickly decreases in quantity. So, it is also in this night, a group of militia is patrolling around one of the remaining Devogard shrine.

"...and I tell you, he run away as quick as a rat. A real coward he is..., are you listening, Tom?"
"Huh? Oh, sorry about that. I am thinking about something else." the man called Tom replied
"Well, well, are you thinking about your wife and children?" another one asked.
"Yes, Hagol," Tom sighted "I am really worried about them."
This man called Tom is Tom Burfoot, a 24 years old man. He has black hairs and eyes; and his height is rather short. He grows up in this city, and has three most important things in his life: City of Levogard, his family, and his friends. It is said that true men will die for their most important thing in their life, and because Tom always think himself as a true man, he is also willingly to die for them.
"Tonight is very quiet," the first man that is boasting at first said. He has golden hair and moustache, which is keep very untidy, and his size is pretty overwhelming. "I, Leo Baldric don't like it."
"Well, do you expect a full scale battle, Leo? Nah, why don't you gaze at the stars?" Hagol said. Hagol is a man with height almost the same with Tom, he also has black eyes and hairs, but a curly black beard is also on his chin.
"That's a splendid idea, indeed. Stargazing. What if I am stabbed from back?" Leo replied sarcastically.
"Don't worry Leo, I will watch your back." Tom said.
"Well, before that, see what is in front." Leo said.
"Huh? What the... damn it, sound the alarm! It is those shrine destroyers again!" Hagol said, very loudly that those shrine destroyer group realize someone is there.
"Kill them!"
"You fool Hagol, look at what have you done! Now Tom, you have to run and rang the town bell, thanks to this Hagol Hazrael." Leo said, as if alarmed, but he looks very calm and kind of joking.
"Ok! All of you, don't go so hard on them, lest there are too much blood spilled." Tom said, and begin to run onto the tower. But, he is stopped by another group of enemy. All of them have their sword in hand.
"How dare for you to look down on us. Die you!"
Tom evaded the blow quickly, draw out his own sword, and make a short work on that man. The other are too startled to react, and when they realize what has happened, two more have fallen.
"Nice work, Tom." Leo shouted. Around him, two men lying.
On the other hand, Hagol is also finished already with his two opponents. One of them lost his left hand, while another is almost split into half. Not a beautiful sight, however, Hagol smiled and brush away blood on his face and axe.
"They are strong, we must attack them altogether!" one of the men that appeared to be the shrine destroyer leader said.
"Oh no, you don't!" Hagol said, and rush toward him. But a small group try to block his way, and Hagol has to fight them first. He slash here and there, and the group quickly scatter.
In the meantime, Leo has dashed onto the shrine destroyer leader, knocking out three men that tries to stop him with his mace, and leap onto him.
However, this man seem much stronger than his companion, and he countered Leo attack by thrusting his long sword directly onto Leo. Leo dodged it, but is forced to abandon his mace and receive slight a cut wound on his cheek.
Suddenly, a shadow flies across Leo and directly attacks the leader. He tried to block the attack; however his sword is shattered by the deadly blow of the shadow. But, this also gives the shadow a surprise. The shrine destroyer leader quickly reaches another long sword from his sheath, stab the shadow, and pin the shadow to the ground.
The shadow is Hagol.
"No!!!" Tom screamed, and rushed forward. Tom makes some wild slashes, forcing the shrine destroyer leader to retreat a bit.
"Hagol, you all right?"
"Well, I think so, although I feel like being battered by a great tree."
"Leo, you take care of Hagol. I will deal with this man!"
"Ok, you take care too!"
Tom left Hagol, and Leo quickly stand beside Hagol. Their enemy, thinking that their opponent is nothing but an unarmed man and a wounded man, strike without holding back.
"Ack!"
"Ouuu!!!"
"How is the taste of my fist?"
Tom stands in front of his enemy.
"What is your name?" that man asked.
"I think it is impolite to ask without introducing yourself." Tom replied.
"Oh...I am forgetting my manner. Bellamy, Renshaw Bellamy." This man also has golden hair like Leo, but without moustache. His height is a bit taller than Tom, and his eyes are blue, somehow looking at that eyes make Tom shivers.
"I am Tom Burfoot"
Both of them prepare to fight. However, an interruption comes.
"Here!"
"The shrine destroyer!"
"Charge!"
It is the other militias. The loud voices have caught the attention of the other militias around, and they begin to charge onto the shrine destroyer. The shrine destroyers begin to retreat.
"Our fight is interrupted, but I am sure, we will meet again" Renshaw said.
"Yes, I am sure we will. Until next time." Tom said, as he watches Renshaw vanished in the darkness.

Intro

Hello, welcome to my blog, this blog is created for sharing some of my "hand made" story, and maybe sometimes, my views regarding some matter. . . .

Well, nothing much to say right now. . . . Maybe I should start?

War of Faith : The Beginning

This story is purely fictional, any connection with the real world is purely coincidence and unintentional
For Teen and above, due to some harsh language

Well, that should do for the title. Now for the story. . .