Nameless: The Answer to Unasked Questions

[This is part of my Creative Writing Experiment.]

Silvain spent most of her life among the tomes and mystical volumes of the Veiled Alliance library, and was always one of those people who look for answers to things no one had asked. A few such questions were: if the elemental urn is so dangerous, why can't it be destroyed? Can it even be destroyed in the first place?

With the magic of the artifacts surging around her, she strummed the lyre - channeling all the power at her disposal - in hopes of finding those answers. The tumultuous blast of energy was far greater than when Jann used the instrument, and the Lord Warrior tumbled out of the way just in time. To Silvain it didn't matter though - she was targeting the urn.

She didn't care that the cup, the seal and the lyre had begun disintegrating around her. She didn't care that her skin began to char from the inside from the overwhelming power that went through her. These, she knew would happen. As she her body slowly began to turn into ash she remained unmoving and focused on the seemingly untouched urn which, along with its pedestal, stood so out of place from the destruction around it.

And then it happened... the urn cracked... and cracked some more. And then a little piece of the top shattered... Silvain sighed with a small smile as she vaporized completely into nothingness. Everything she sacrificed in that attack had merely damaged the urn, but there in her final moments, she found her answer. If the urn could be damaged, it could be destroyed.

Nameless: Explosive Volume

[This is part of my Creative Writing Experiment.]

With a flick of his wrist, Jann sent a huge ball of flame hurtling towards the three women but the spell exploded harmlessly against the shield generated by the Seal of Fire Silvain held up in front of it. The magic shield did nothing to stop the Lord Warrior's arrow though, which painfully pierced through her extended forearm, forcing her to drop the artifact.

As Nessa rushed their black armored foe, parrying more arrows with her shield, Fayina threw Rhone's spear at Jann - but she missed as the goateed mage hopped down from his perch while he simultaneously produced an ornate looking lyre. With a single strum, violent energies shot forth towards his targets. All Fayina could do was push Silvain out of the way as the magic from the lyre dismembered her in a sudden, violent explosion of blood and entrails.

Wide-eyed, Silvain used her good hand to conjure a wall of stone which blocked the next chord strummed by Jann. Through the debris of the crumbling wall, he didn't notice that the timid librarian had also magically flung a tiny few tiny rocks in his direction. The pebbles hit the strings of his instrument and to his horror, made it sound - firing the energy in his direction and completely obliterating him and the pillar he had jumped down from.

Meanwhile, Nessa had closed the distance and cut through the Lord Warrior's bow with her sword in a furious, flurry of attacks. This didn't stop her opponent though, who proceeded to fight unarmed - evading and deflecting Nessa's sword strikes and skillfully disarming and throwing her across the garden plaza with a surprising, spinning counter.

It was only at that moment that Lord Warrior spotted Silvain crouched to one side on some sort of impromtu magic circle, with the cup of life and the seal of fire at her feet and the lyre in her hands.

Nameless: Evil Intent

[This is part of my Creative Writing Experiment.]

The night sky showed Silvain that they were almost out of time.

The city was more alert than usual the next morning, with armed Shadowstar soldiers aggressively patrolling the streets and what few civilians were about were hurriedly ushured into their homes. This made it more difficult for Fayina, Nessa and Silvain to sneak closer to the main frustum where the Lord Warrior was said to reside, but it soon became clear that they were not the only threats active that day.

The trio watched from a small, shaded alley as the city guardsmen clashed against a large group of ragged individuals. Some looked like disheveled miners, others wore the familiar greenish garb of the tree folk. One of them was a splitting image of Buster, down to his axe. Silvain held Nessa back as she began to move to assist them, not just because they had a more important mission - but more because this ragtag group attacked with no strategy. No tactics.

Yet for each one slain, the guards seemed to panic more - as if terrified of the blood being spilled around them. Soon they started fighting among themselves as well. While Nessa and Silvain squinted to try better understand what was happening, Fayina called their attention with a loud whisper.

"Now is our chance."

With all the guards now attending the commotion, the grand stairs to the pyramid was clear. With a deep breath, the trio sprinted across the open causeway and into the main Shadowstar headquarters. There was no looking back now

They moved quickly and quietly along the cold marble floor of the interior, counting themselves lucky as the lack of defenses continued inside. That is, until they reached a large open air garden in the center of the building. There, on a small altar was the elemental urn and beside it stood a menacing figure in black armor holding a wicked bow. The Lord Warrior was waiting for them.

"Right on time!" exclaimed a voice familiar to Nessa, as a thin man with a long goatee stood up from his perch atop a nearby decorative pillar. Jann smiled at them with evil intent.

Nameless: The Lyre

[This is part of my Creative Writing Experiment.]

Florin's quick reflexes had saved Romila and Jann, as the air elemental's lightning blast flew past overhead. The mage sisters were not so lucky, catching the brunt of the attack with one screaming as she was thrown off the mountain while her sibling was pinned against a large rock by the force of the magic and electrocuted to death.

After a brief pause, it fired again but this time the lightning arced around Jann's outstreched hand - tracing the invisible barrier he had conjured. Beside him, Romila was whispering to herself silently as all her focus remained on the air elemental. With a sudden, dramatic gesture, the air elemental suddenly dissipated like a clearing fog.

"Dispelled," Romila sighed as she wiped the sweat from her brow.

Florin nodded and cautiously advanced up the path the elemental had been guarding which led to a small plateau. There stood a plain stone altar.

"This should be the place, yet its not here," muttered Jann disappointedly.
"Maybe it's some sort of puzzle," mused Florin as he examined the altar. "I don't think someone could have climbed the sheer cliff face to sneak past the elemental guardian..."

"Unless they had wings," corrected Romila as she pointed to a nearby cliff side that clearly supported some form of nest.

**********

It took almost an hour for the trio to find their way up to the nest, and it was far larger than Florin had imagined. All sorts of shiny trinkets of various sizes lay scattered within, as well as a few man-sized eggs and the bones of various creatures. He definitely did not want to find out what lived here.

"There it is," said Romila as she pointed to a strange looking harp which fortuitously was at the edge nearest them. Without missing a beat, Florin gingerly climbed into the nest and retrieved the artifact. Upon turning around however, he saw a hint of steel at Romila's throat, followed by a spray of blood. As she collapsed with a surprise look to the floor, he could see Jann grinning behind her with a bloody knife in hand.

"Traitor!" Florin roared, but as he climbed out of the nest, his leg suddenly bent in a way it shouldn't, thanks to Jann's magic - immobilizing him on the spot and causing him to drop the harp.

"No hard feelings," sneered Jann as he snatched the artifact from the ground, while using his magic to dislocate each of Florin's arms. "I just prefer to ally myself with winners, you see."
With a final wave, Florin was sent painfully screaming and tumbling into the middle of the nest a broken and helpless man.

As if on queue, the shadow of a gigantic winged creature passed overhead, accompanied by the loud flapping of wings. Jann made a quick escape, leaving the panicked and screaming Florin as bird food.

Nameless: Mount Verini

[This is part of my Creative Writing Experiment.]

With a scream, Nessa swung her sword down hard into the shoulder of the Shadowstar soldier who collapsed in a shower of blood with a horrified look on his face. The last thing they expected to find at the gates of the ancient temple built into the volcano was an entire regiment of enemies laying siege to it.

An entire regiment now dead or dying.

With the battle over, Nessa surveyed the losses to her allies and they were equally severe. Of her team, which was reinforced by three other mages who Jann had freed from cursed paintings, only Ladel the cook remained upright, puffing with exhaustion.

Her eyes then came across a familiar thin body lying in a broken position near the middle of the field - the merchant Notaku. With a missing leg and a clearly broken arm his lifeless eyes just stared across towards the massive gates of the temple.

Gates which slowly began to open with a loud grinding noise. Lizard like figures walking up right on two legs, each with a spear and shield marched out and surrounded the two wary survivors. Their leader, marked by a different coloration on her helmet stepped forward.

"Enemies of our enemies are our friends," she hissed with a slight bow. "Please come in." Nessa and Ladel were happy to oblige, since the artifact they sought was supposedly within the temple anyway. Nessa noticed that half of their entourage remained behind to collect equipment and the dead.

"I am Rhone," said the guard captain as she led them into a huge, gold-gilded hall with magnificently carved figures decorating both sides. "Welcome to Verini."

Nameless: All the Way up Here

[This is part of my Creative Writing Experiment.]

"We're making good time," announced Romila as she shrugged off the soreness in her arms. Beside her, Florin looked across the desert expanse below to the distant red mountains, obviously concerned about the rest of his team. Romila saw this and slapped him on the back.

"They probably aren't even there yet," she mused. "Get your head back in the game, mercenary."

"Lady Romila," called Jann from up ahead. He was flanked by a pair of mage sisters, that he had freed from the cursed portraits just days ago. "There's a village up ahead."

"All the way up here?"

Curious, the stern woman took point with Florin close behind to see for herself. There was indeed a small village up ahead, but each structure was nearly twice the size of a regular dwelling. The damaged furniture inside was of the same scale.

"Giants lived here," Jann mused.

"But where are they now?" asked Romila with a hint of trepidation.

"I'm more concerned about what made them leave," said Florin plainly as he poked at a pile of rubble with a stick.

"Let's not hang around to find out, our climb is just beginning."

Nameless: Grim Paintings

[This is part of my Creative Writing Experiment.]

Notaku wiped the sweat from his brow as he cursed the burning sun under his breath. It had been two days since his small caravan had left the city with Nessa, Florin, Romila, and Ladel, a sweaty, rotund, low ranking alliance member who moonlighted as their cook and whose sharp body odor was becoming harder to ignore.

Thankfully their destination wasn't far now as a the ragged tent in the distance grew ever closer.

"Notaku, my old friend!" exclaimed the dark skinned man who greeted them. "And Lady Romila, it's been a long time. What brings you all the way out here?"

"We need your help Jann," replied Romila as Florin helped her down from the wagon. Behind them, Ladel and Nessa had begun unloading three flat squares of cargo - paintings depicting individuals in terrible or hopeless situations.

"Ohho, where did you get these?" mused Jann as he stroked his long goatee.

"Bought them," Notaku piped up proudly. "Which was hard to do without raising suspicion I might add."

Nessa, who was now standing just behind Romila whispered "So, how does this work? We give him paintings and he gives us reinforcements?"

"The paintings -are- your reinforcements my dear," said Jann over his shoulder. "The new regime is full of sadists who wanted a method to publicly incarcerate and torture their foes for all eternity, all while saving space in the physical dimension. It's quite brilliant actually. Please, bring them inside and I will begin preparations to extract these unfortunate souls."

"Jann was always best at this field of study," mused Romila out loud as she watched Jann lead Notaku, Ladel and Nessa to his camp.

"So why did Matthias kick him out?" asked Florin.

"Because he enjoys tormenting children."