well here is chapter 8. hope you enjoy! also thatns to kinslayer for making me active again!

Chapter 8.

Earen saw a dark figure walking slowly into the house and it stood in front of him. Earen tried to call out to the figure but he had no voice. The figure dropped a sword at his feet and tears came from the figure. Earen tried to comfort the person but he could not move. All he could do was stare at the sword. It seemed oddly familiar and he could not help but notice the symbol etched in the blade near the hilt. Fear gripped him as he realized it was his father’s sword. He realized the person was his mom. His real mother. It was just like that ay when his step mother returned from her last adventure. Suddenly he felt immense pain and a blade grew from his chest. Earen slumped over and as he hit the ground he jerked awake. He was covered in a cold sweat and Fierl looked at him.

“Your dreams are interesting” Fierl said, licking his right paw. Earen looked away, rubbing beneath one of his eyes. He had no tear but felt the scar under his eye with his leather glove. He took both of his gloves off and looked at his palms.

“I am collecting marks left and right” Earen thought feeling his skull shaped burn. He slipped on his gloves and stood up. The new day was just past dawn and he decided to start out fresh. He stretched his sore limbs then packed up Syril. He got on and Fierl bounded up onto Earen’s lap and Earen stroked Fierl’s soft fur.

“Take off that rough glove; your bare hands are really smooth.” Fierl said. Despite his omniscient and century old attitude, that was Fierl’s one weakness, Earen’s hands across his back. Earen slowly ran his hand through his fur and felt the Ter~ailil tingling as he ran it down Fierl’s back. Soon it started getting hotter until it suddenly burned in his hand and he yelped in pain. He took his hand off of Fierl and blew on it.

“Why does it do that?” Earen asked pouring some cool water on his hand.

“There are many mysteries about the Ter~ailil that I don’t know, and that is one of them.” Fierl said curling up in Earen’s cloak. They went into a brisk gallop and soon Earen noticed mountains in the distance. They were not normal thoug

h. They didn't have snow and even from far away you could see that almost constant eruptions. They continued on until Earen saw something flicker in his line of vision to his right. He kept at the same pace but put his hand on his sword. Soon the flickers became more and more frequent until he saw small figures up ahead standing in a row, about twenty of them. The one stood in the middle was a bit taller and wielded a stick with a sharp rock tied onto the top. Earen stopped about 15ft away from them. Then he heard the familiar deep, slow voice.

“Lightning creature, we have found you. I keep promise and bring strong warriors. Now I absorb your high strength and I be big powerful.” The leader said. Earen recognized him and drew his sword. They were weak to begin with but he had more and they grew stronger with every kill. Earen dropped down from Syril with a solid “thump” and the group of creatures flinched. They stared at Earen with their small red eyes, watching his every movement. Suddenly a howl sounded not far behind Earen. The mud creatures looked fearfully and started to melt.

“Goodbye lightning creature, we will meet under more favorable circumstances.” The leader said with a chuckle and melted into the ground. Another howl sounded closer this time. The howl didn't seem like a normal wolf’s howl. It was deeper and sounded much more evil than a normal wolf. Earen cursed as he realized what the howl came from. He ran back to Syril and jumped on. He kicked hard into Syril’s sides and she bolted forward. Despite their efforts the deep menacing howls got closer and closer. He rode until he reached a large dried up lake, like a plate with a lip filled up with sand. He rode down the small incline and rode to about the middle of the dried up lake. He turned Syril around and saw small figures off in the distance pouring in the plate like ants.

“This should be interesting” Earen thought looking at the ever advancing enemies.

“Be careful Earen, there are a large number of them” Fierl said staring at them too.

“A ‘large number’? That’s an understatement” Earen said drawing his sword. Earen kicked in and Syril jumped forward, the wind blowing Earen’s hair. As they got closer, they saw their enemies clearly. Wargs. Big nasty wargs about as big as a horse, with an orc or two on each one. They wielded nasty weapons. Axes, maces, broad swords, scythes, spears, and bows. Few had armor but most had shields. Earen’s palm tingled as a red light crept up his sword and his hand started glowing red. They rushed to meet head on and all the sound was deafened by the clanging sound that resonated around the valley. Earen’s sword cleaved right through the first warg and many on his left exploded in a burst of red energy. Earen’s sword was like a windmill spinning and cutting through wargs. Earen heard the whistle of arrows and deflected most of them. Two pierced Syril’s back leg and one hit Earen’s upper arm. They crashed in a jumble of horse, elf, werecat and packs. The wind was knocked out of Earen as he landed on the hard sand. Fierl landed on the sand with a soft thump. Suddenly he began to shake and changed into a little boy with fire red and black hair, sharp teeth and a black crystal dagger. He wore small leather clothes and Earen stared amazed. Fierl grinned and ran to help Earen. Earen stood up and blocked a few arrows from the group of wargs circling around. Syril was neighing and trying to stand up to no avail. He tried to heal Syril but he it was too bad. When they crashed she had broken her front legs and some ribs and those had pierced her major organs. Earen took his sword and quickly slit the horse’s throat to save her from anymore pain. Earen cut some of her mane off and quickly wrapped it up with a piece of string making a brad. He shoved it in a pouch and got ready for the next pass. Red energy flowed through Earen’s sword and crackled with electricity. As the came to him, Earen jumped up, and swung his sword down. He landed on the ground and red lightning shot out of his sword. Warg and orc bodies flew everywhere as his sword stopped glowing. He heard a roar from behind and saw a giant mouth close around his arm. Earen could feel the sword like teeth sink into his arm and his bones snap. He screamed out in pain as he wavered in between conscious and unconsciousness. A red haze came over his eyes but he saw Fierl jump onto the warg and stab it on the muzzle. He heard an arrow fire and he saw through the haze an arrow hit the warg’s forehead. It died instantly and Earen felt relief as the immense pressure lifted from his arm. He fell to the ground with a thump as he fell into unconsciousness.

Earen awoke with a start and grabbed for his sword and his arm screamed at him in pain. He grabbed his arm and looked around. Fierl was sleeping next to a merry fire and their packs lay next to him. He heard someone coming and looked for his sword but couldn’t find it. He stared at the darkness until a figure came out of the darkness. It was the herbalist from the fortune telling shop. She wore a red shimmering armor similar to Earen’s and a bow was on her back. Her dark long hair was pulled back in a ponytail and Earen noticed pointed ears and her face seemed softer and she was beautiful.

“Wait, you are an elf?” Earen said in disbelief.

“Yes. I use a spell to hide my face and physical features. That way my enemies cannot find me” she threw down a couple of rabbits and sat down.

“Forgive me, but I never did catch your name. Mine is Earen” Earen said.

She giggled and replied “My name is holly, and I didn't break my promise” She said grinning as Fierl hopped on her lap. Earen looked at her, confused.

“I trust he told you what I said? ‘Don’t worry; I will see you again before this is over’ She said petting Fierl, Then Earen remembered.

“Oh ya, he told me. Well I thank you for helping me. I was in quite a big problem” Earen said playing with some sand.

“Your display of magic was incredible. Where did you learn it?” She asked looking him up and down.

“Well I learned most from my mother, well my step-mother, she was a paladin like me” Earen said. He pulled out his sword and held it out to her. “This is my father’s sword. It was given to me when he uh passed away” Earen said the last part with a sad look in his eyes.

Holly took the sword and looked it over. “If you don’t mind me asking, what happened to your real mother?” She said testing the balance and various aspects of the sword.

“Well, its, its hard to explain. You cannot tell anyone who she is. I hate the attention I get from the people who know already” Earen said.

“What is it? Is she a Goddess or something? It can’t be that bad” she said skinning the rabbits.

Earen fidgeted at her comment and took a deep breath. “Well, ya she is” she dropped a rabbit and her jaw dropped.

“Great, I knew this would happen. Please don’t treat me any better than anyone else” Earen said taking back his sword.

“I wasn’t planning on that, but you can’t expect people to take that in as a normal thing” She said defensively.

“Sorry, I guess I’m just so used to it, I hate when people react to it” Earen said. She moved around the fire and sat next to him. She grabbed the amulet and she looked it over. Then she took his hand and held it in his.

“Look I’m mar” but she cut him off. Then he felt that tingling feeling in his hand, and saw her hand glowing too.

“Does yours burn too?” she asked, his hand getting hot. He nodded and she let go.

“Sorry, I’m not coming on to you or anything, I just wondered. How about we just be friends and get those Death knights shall we?” She said grinning.

“How did you know that?” Earen said.

“I have my Sources” she said winking, and they took on the challange of making a meal to Fierl's satisfaction.

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[Sig and avy by me!]