EDRIUM: WARRIOR'S OF FATE

The king’s palaceIt's been two days now since my men and I had come back from a mission and most of them haven’t fully healed but the king is requesting my presence in the throne room which means he has another mission planned which I find utterly ridiculous but my opinion doesn't matter.Once I reached the door of the throne room, my name was announced and the giant doors opened up and I walked into the throne room taking in my surroundings, due to the fact that I was blind I had to depend on my other sense which took a lot of time and was very difficult but I got used to it along the line and it became easier to live my life normally.Yes I had limits but I could do normal things with a burden to others, I could fight effortlessly for fir goodness sake with this cursed blindness and you expect me not to know how to do something simple as brush my teeth. Ridiculous!As i walked into the room i noticed that two other people excluding the king were present in the room judging from the scent of the room, two males: the king and his advisor and one female: maybe one of the king’s mistresses because she didn't have the queen's scent. I knelt down on one knee as a sign of respect before greeting the king, “long live the king” I said as I bowed my head to the ground.“Welcome, welcome, Rave, I heard your last mission was a success and you were able to get the gem of fate” the king asked in a smug tone, sometimes I didn’t like the methods he used to capture land or get precious artifacts but he was my king and I had to obey.“Yes my king” I answered “That’s wonderful, the gem of fate can help strengthen Edrium's power and no kingdom would ever want to wage war against us,” the king said, obviously I know he has a smile on his face, he has always been obsessed with power.“Oh yes, now back to the reason I sent for you, I need you to go to the forest of fears, rumours have been going around that the creatures of the forest are getting more aggressive and the healers can go and get their herbs because of this” the king said, the forest of fears is home to the most dangerous mythical creature and potent healing herbs, only a few selected people are allowed to go into the forest without being harmed by the creatures.“My king, but I’m not a healer, so I won’t be able to enter the forest. The creature will sense I’m a warrior and attack” I explained, trying to reason with the king. “You disrespectful servant, how can you disrespect the king?” the king’s advisor said," I could sense the anger in his tone, but I really didn’t care. " I’m not going to risk pissing off the creatures there for no reason because I know it was going to get me killed.“I mean no disrespect to the king, I was just stating the facts, Advisor Adam, the forest only allows healers into its gates and due to the lack of manna in the forest I won’t be able to use my power if I have to defend myself from an attack”.“I understand your worries and Adam there is no need to get worked up, Rave my mages have prepared a gem that will surround you with the aura of a healer which will allow you be able to enter the forest and investigate” the king said but there was no change in his tone which means he wasn’t offended by what I said or he was just hiding his annoyance with me“Okay my king, I will gather my men, and we will leave by dawn” I replied, but what he said next shocked me“Rave this is a solo mission you don’t need your men because the mages where only able to create one gem and I would like you to leave this night, the sooner we find out what is really going on the sooner we can solve the issue” the king said and I couldn't help but be wary about this mission because something deep inside my gut was telling me to go against this request but that will only get my head chopped off“Okay my king, I will get my amour and weapons and leave for the forest” I said, standing to my feet so I could take my leave, “You won’t have any need for your weapons, a small dagger will do, but you are to go like this so the gem would be able to work properly”. The king explained, and I swear this sounded more like a bad idea as he continued to speak."But my king, what if the gem fails? I would be left defenseless” I said, trying to reason with the stupid man seated in front of me. Going to that forest without amour or weapons is like signing my death wish, and I don’t trust mages enough to rely on that gem alone, I thought to myself as I tried to hold back my scowl.“I have had enough of your insolence servant, obey your king or you will be executed for your disrespect” Advisor Adam said in an angry tone, he should f*ck*ng tone it down because he wasn't the one going to risk his life and go into the forest“I’m sorry for disrespecting the king. It won’t happen again. My sincere apologies, my sincere apologies, my king ” I said, going on one knee to apologize.“Rave no need to apologize, you were just fearing for your life and I assure you, you will return home safely” the king said but I still couldn’t detect a change in the tone of his voice. “Thank you, my king, I’m sorry once again for my disrespect, I will be taking my leave now, long live the king” I said before turning to leave the throne room.“May the spirits be with you,” the king said before I walked through the door of the throne room. Once I got to my room, I picked up my enchanted dagger that could grow in size before stopping at the mage’s tower to retrieve the gem. Once I was handed the gem, I went straight to the stables to get Hunter my horse. He is a beautiful black stallion and my only trusted companion.Once I had gotten him ready, we started our journey to the forest of fears. By midnight, we had gotten to the forest, and Hunter and I came to a stop at the entrance of the forest, “Activate” I said, then a bright white light appeared around us, and the door of the forest opened up, letting us into the forest.Everything seemed quiet. There were no creatures in sight, which was quite strange, but as I moved forward, I could feel the manna around me beginning to fade. Then, an arrow flew past me, missing me by an inch. I heard movement around me, which means I wasn't the only one in the forest, then I was under attack, but no one apart from healers could enter the forest. I got off Hunter getting my dagger out then it extended in length becoming a normal sword, I calmed my breathing waiting for their attack, another arrow can right a me and i was able to deflect it but another one was shot and I wasn't able to deflect it on time, it hit me in the shoulder but I stood my ground.Then I heard footsteps coming towards me which belonged to two male smaller than me so I could take them, I attacked the one on my right as I heard him yelp in pain, the other one called out to him but got no answer then he screamed in anger attacking me head on, I evaded is attacks but I felt my body weakening little by little.The attacker went back into the forest for cover, so I had the chance to pull the arrow out and touch the tip. It was covered with a liquid substance that felt and smelled quite familiar. If it was what I was thinking, I needed to get out of here before the poison began to take full effect. The substance was a poison called Wither Spine, it was one of most deadly poisons in Edrium, it first causes weakness, then paralysis, after the paralysis the individual will start having illusions before the poison gets to your heart killing you instantly.The first stage was already taking affect so i have to get out of here before they attacked again but as i was getting on Hunter another arrow met my leg causing me to fall over Hunter speeding up the effects is the poison, I could feel parts of my body growing numb, then the attacker than went into the forest came out of hiding walking in my direction as he dragged his sword on the ground."You are not as strong as the rumors say, the great Rave struggling like a rat for his life" the attacker said in a mocking tone, "you will pay for killing my friend, a life for a life but torturing you sounds a lot better at least i get to boast about it" the man said as he drove his sword through my right leg, I bit my tongue drawing blood as I held back the scream threatening to leave my lips.Then he pulled out the sword driving it into my second leg, "if this is what you call torture I have faced worse boy and I could take you on of you didn't rely on cheats like this poison to fight me, you are no match against me" I said goading my attacker."Shut up, you are about to die, and you are still mocking me, I could kill you now if I wanted," the man said."Boy, I'm not afraid of death. You should be afraid of the man you are crossing. The king will find you and kill you for killing one of his prized warriors. ""It's so sad that you believe he will avenge you when you die, when he was the one that sent you to your death Rave," the man said "Your lies won't work on me,""Your precious king sent us Rave the great, your king betrayed you" the man laughed as he drove the sword into my left arm, "he was so jealous of your power and fame that he wanted you dead, how pathetic""Why do you lie? Using the name of the king?" I asked, not believing that the king would do something like this."I don't care if you believe me or not, my only job is to make sure you don't leave here alive," then he pulled out the sword driving it into my right arm but I had already lost feeling in my hand to feel it."Goodbye Rave," the man said before driving the sword into my stomach. Before leaving me on the cold floor, I heard his footsteps fade as I bled to death laying on the ground of the forest.After so many battles this is how I was going to die. I should have disagreed with the king, I should have believed that voice inside me, so the mighty King Victor betrayed me because he felt threatened by my power. I served him all my life and gave him no chance to doubt my loyalty to him.I swear to the spirits that if I survived this, Victor was going to pay, he crossed the wrong man. I thought as I gradually began to lose consciousness, the last thing I heard was a voice saying stay awake, stay awake before I finally lost consciousness.

My body felt like it was floating but darkness surrounded me. I couldn’t move my body but I was aware of everything around me, then it finally clicked, I could see which wasn’t possible. Was this a dream or am I really dead? These thoughts ran through my head while my body kept floating in mid air.But how was it possible? I went to different mages but none of them could fix my sight, why was I able to see now? While I was lost in thoughts and a spirit appeared before me in the form of a bird it flew in a circle over my floating body.Then another figure appeared in form of a human, the female had hair as black as coal and the bluest eyes I have ever seen, her whole body was covered by the purest aura know to any mage, "Greetings, my child. You may be curious about your current whereabouts. Your soul hovers at the boundary between life and death, a result of the severe injuries from the attack. A devoted follower managed to rescue you, but you now wr