EDRIUM: WARRIOR'S OF FATE

The king’s palace.....

It'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 for 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 sensed 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 dropped to one knee, feeling the cold stone floor against my skin. My heart pounded in my chest as I lowered my head, my voice devoid of emotions as i spoke. "Long live the king."

“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, hoping this meeting would end soon because I needed to rest my aching muscles.

“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.

"Yes, my king," I repeated.

“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 dare you talk back to the king?” The advisor's voice shook with anger. I could feel the tension in the room, but I didn’t care. The thought of angering the creatures out there sent a chill down my spine, and I knew it was going to get me killed. That's why I'm against going.

“I mean no disrespect to the king, I was just stating the facts, Advisor Adam, the forest only allows healers through it's 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 explained 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, his voice laced with anger. He should fucking tone it down because he wasn't the one risking his life by going into the forest.

“I’m sorry for disrespecting you, my king. It won’t happen again. My sincere apologies, my sincere apologies, my king” I said, holding back the irritation in my tone.

“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. They handed me the gem, and 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 i heard an arrow fly past my ear, followed by movements around me, which meant I wasn't the only one in the forest. A few moments later I heard footsteps surrounding me, I was under attack, but by who? I thought to myself as I took deep breaths.

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.

I heard footsteps approaching—two men, smaller than me by the sound of it. I could take them. Without hesitation, I lunged at the one on my right, hearing his yelp of pain. The other man called out to his partner, panic in his voice, but got no answer. He screamed in rage and charged at me. I dodged his wild swings, but with each move, I felt my strength fading.

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 my 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" my 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 snickered 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." I said as the man let out a mocking laugh.

"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," I said, a growl leaving my lips.

"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 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 gone against the king, I should have believed that voice inside me. I couldn’t believe King Victor could betray me all because he felt threatened by my power. I served him all my life and gave him no chance to doubt my loyalty to him, but he still betrayed me anyway.

I swear to the spirits that if I survived this, Victor was going to pay, I thought to myself as I gradually began to lose consciousness. The last thing I heard was a voice saying, "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 because i was blind in real life.

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 f