A Knight No More...

[CosmicWhaleShark 2488]

William Baldwin pants as he climbs the steep slopes of the mountains of Asulon. Wounded and bleeding he rests near a great statue of a former people. Sensing his inevitable demise he can only hope to convey his last wishes through parchment and pray an adventurer honors his intentions.

*you come across the ruins of what appears to be a gate, as you walk further you are awestruck by a great stone statue, you advance towards the towering structure, as your gaze lowers down to the base you see a man in a maroon coat, hair grey with age, and a book dangerously close to a puddle of blood beneath his corpse*

I address this letter to the person unfortunate enough to come across my body. Death encircles me, its cold grip slowly taking hold, I can fight it no more and must take my last hour to convey my wishes and pray you honor them.

I am a knight of Horen, Ser William Baldwin. I have fought many battle and slain many foe. I have lost all my wordly goods in this world when we came to this god-forsaken land, save my knowledge and experience. Unfortunately these are about to be lost as well.

I ask of you to take my message to my commander, my friends and my people. As I could not complete my business on my own. Tell the commander, Gideon Silverblade, that I wish to submit my squire, Marcus, for knighthood. He has served me well in the past and has been quite patient with me despite my flaws and vices. Give my cutlass to Lykos. He is the only man I feel worthy to wield my blade for he is my truest friend. Lastly I ask you to let my friends know where my body is so they may give me a proper burial, should they deem me fit for one. Burn me in the fires so my evils be purged and cast me to the sea so my spirit be free.

This I ask of you, three wishes, the journey may be long for you but an adventurer such as yourself should relish the challenge. If you didn't why else would you be out this far?

Kya, I do believe that I have achie- *the writing begins to gradually become unreadable to the point that it is just scribbles, you cannot make out the rest of the blood spotted pages*

((RP the discovery of my body if you like. Thought it would be fun to have some situational RP instead of just saying I'm dead.))

[Lykos 276]

((you was ma bestest frieeeend! why you leave me?! well... i have written something to rp my finding of you... It is a bit large.))

Lykos emerges from his temporary home inside of a mountain face and takes in a deep breath of the morning air, dew turning the grass beneath his feet into gleaming bayonets... After casually surveying the area around him, he makes his way to a few ruined stair-steps, which were the first steps to his goal: to get to the top of the mountain to see what glorious sights awaited at it's peak... And what loot there may be inside the ruins atop it...

As Lykos rises above the first batch of stairs, he captures a sight: blood. Lykos draws his sword and approaches the small pool of crimson and dabs a finger in it, then proceeds to gather whatever information from it that he could. Human... Fresh, not coagulated. Lykos then rose to his feet and looked around, noticing that the altitude drove away the warmth, and the wind was in the other direction, so scent would be useless... He then got back onto the path to the summit of the mountain, and to the ruins that were rumored to be under the giant stone guardian statues that stood atop... Lykos noticed a large concentration of blood in the snow next to the path, and perceives a few different blood trails leading away from the site, a couple down the mountain, one leading to a rotted corpse, and one up the stairs to the top of the mountain. After eye-ing the rotted corpse to see if there was anything useful on it, he moved on up the mountain, following both the trail of ruined stairs and the trail of crimson as a guide.

As Lykos trudged up another flight of stairs, two large statues of former heros come into his view, signifying that he was close to the ruins, and close to the end of the trail of blood. Lykos then saw a wall of the ruins that he had been searching for for days... And there was another sight mostly covered in snow: a body, slumped over and grey with death. Lykos approached the body and noticed that it wore a tattered maroon coat, and had a book clutched into his frozen hands. Lykos had found the end of the trail... Lykos carefully pried the book out of the body's hands, being careful not to harm the cadaver, him being a man to honor the dead, especially those that had died in battle, as this one had.-Lykos reads the book...- After reading and re-reading the tattered paper. Lykos tossed the book, and rushed to the side of the body. He then lifted up the ground-bound head and gazed into the face... It was the face of his comrade, his battle brother, his friend... William Baldwin. Lykos was struck with shock and jumped back away from the corpse of his fallen friend, then collapsed onto his knees in the snow. Lykos lets out a shout, the sounds detailing his every feeling: be it sorrow, despair, or anger. He then looked to the sky in front of him, it finally clearing from the bleak overcast grey, to reveal a rising full moon, illuminating the dying day... Lykos rose to his feet once again and trudged to the book he had discarded, no spring in his step, and picked it up, no will in his grasp. After reading it one more time, he writes a transcript of the book and places it next to William's now frozen body, and puts the original in his pack...

"Well... I will give you that last wish, old friend..."Lykos says, his voice breaking under the pressure of his emotions.

Lykos then carefully picked Will's remains up and kicked in the rotted gate to the old frozen ruins. After a small amount of searching, he found a sort of religious hall, with an altar and some pews. Lykos set William down and flew into a rage, taking out his sadness into the wooden benches, breaking them to pieces. After tearing the pews apart, he stacked the pieces on the altar, then took a vase of oil that was sitting nearby and broke it over the pile. He then sorrowfully picked William off of the dusty floors and placed him atop the pyre he had prepared.

"Good-... Goodbye, brother." Lykos said, barely more audible than a whisper.

Lykos then lit the pyre and watched his friend's body be taken away from this cold land... This cold land so far away from his Southeron birthplace. After an hour or so after the fires had gone out, Lykos still sat on the ground, weary and grief-stricken. He forced himself onto his feet to find a suitable urn for his ashes... After picking the strongest and most lavishly decorated of the few that were in the room, Lykos gathered up his fallen comrade's ashes... He would deliver Will's remains to the only family he knew Will had, his son Liam... But first... He would find the ends of the crimson trails that lead away from the one Will left, and he would make bloody damned sure they had payed the same price as his battle brother... And if they hadn't... Oh if they hadn't... He would send them off himself, but not in battle... They would suffer first. They did not deserve quick death...

After gathering his new-found determination, Lykos stormed out of the ruin and down the mountainside to search for those responsible for taking his best friend... the closest thing to family he had, off of the planet. Lykos then faded into the distance, a rising crimson dawn overcoming the horizon in front of him...

-edit- Merely writing this made me feel all bummed out for about two hours.-

-fixed-

[everblue2er101 906]

Josef wonders what has become of the man that he worked with to built the Library of Galahar. Perhaps he should find out...

((*Sadface))

[CosmicWhaleShark 2488]

-edit- Merely writing this made me feel all bummed out for about two hours.-

((a very nice read Lykos, Liam will be an even better friend due to his thickheadedness :3. And you won't have to worry about him hating you because you brought him his fathers ashes haha.))

[Anthrowolfgirl 5]

Looks over the note and a tear sliently trails down her face, but she smiles.

Bladwin, I hope to see you soon.

[Lykos 276]

((a very nice read Lykos, Liam will be an even better friend due to his thickheadedness :3. And you won't have to worry about him hating you because you brought him his fathers ashes haha.))

((ill actually be rp searching for him, and i will rp it out. This event has actually changed Lykos a bit. ))

[Cosmik 220]

Ashur tosses the note to the side and reaches for the sheath on the corpse's belt.

"That's a nice sword you got there...

The pleasure's all mine, knight. Don't bother getting up."

[Lykos 276]

((if only my story carried, it would stop people from randomly coming across the body :P either way i am going to continue the rp i have layed put for myself from my story in game... And i shall actually have the sword :P))

[Anthrowolfgirl 5]

((Oh my gosh lol I know what your talking about to me, but I still want to know the rest of the letter thats covered in blood.))

[Lykos 276]

((i fixed the story so that others can know what has happened here))

[Dat Burkester 101]

*after being told the information about baldwin gideon thinks to himself* baldwin was my greatest knight, as well as a friend, and he will not be forgotten. His request will be carried out and hopefully his squire turns out to be a great knight, being taught by such a great man. I will be joining Baldwin one day, but there are many of things I hope to complete first with Baldwin watching over me. In this time I wil stay strong, with the love of my life and the thing I live for, kya. *walks away smiling holding the hilt of his blade*

[Braxis 813]

*Hears Baldwins fate*

Poor ser Baldwin.. He was one of the best squire i trained. And was Good Knight and hepd the code close to him. He was the second to last orginal knight left.. May the Light watch over ye.

[steelersfan1221 300]

Moved to the Great Library. It shall be sorted into appropriate category shortly.