Luck of the Draw

Hey all, another shot at my new series by me. It's based off Shinjidai Zelda, but no more Zelda, at all, new characters, new land, new currency for God's sake. Anyways this one's just a random story saga, should be fun.

In anyone cares, watch out for violence, blood, some vulgar language, references to drugs and alchohol and gambling situations.


Also, I always feel that a story is better told with some kind of picture, so I'm going to try for every chapter or every other excerpt to create a picture using sprites to make it look like an image of what happening in the story. But remember, not all pictures, like this one, will fit the description in the writing as clearly.

Anyways enjoy the prologue!! ^_^






Luck of the Draw
By Mirren


Prologue- Rolling Chances; the Fortune of Three

Tokoio Village, a simple, robust settlement by day, and by night a calm, quiet town. Though even when the roads lay empty, and a few candles and lamps burned inside a select amount of houses, one large building was as alive as ever, more exciting at this late hour than any other time. It was now that both men and women would come out to his structure, and spend a few hours, or even an entire night inside enjoying themselves with many around them.

This place, a large hall with a fine smooth wooden floor, contained some dozens of people all over. Flanking the entrance way was a line of tall candle holders, helping to illuminate the room alongside the great lamps that hung from the ceiling. A bar sat towards the back, handled by a pretty young woman who handed out whatever type of liquor or beverage one would want. Tables sat arbitrarily about the center, many occupied by a few men and women, or a couple as they sat and chatted with a bottle or glass of a drink each. Much more was about, but most important were all the different people; care-free young men and women looking for a good time on this night, the workers and waitresses who gladly labored, those who stomped about in anger of what they lost, and those who basked in their glory of victory.

This was the Tokoio Gambling Hall.


In the near middle of the floor sat one large table, were around it were four men, and one boy. The youngest man was wearing dark tan adventuring pants, and a fine green tunic with a white long sleeve shirt underneath it. Flowing from his head were gorgeous golden hair, covering much of his narrowed eyes as he watched the boy to the left of him. This young teenager was clad in deep blue pants much similar to the young man before him, but he instead wore a simple deep green turtleneck. As he leaned on the table, the others watching him, the boy had a smirk on his face as he shuffled three dice in his fist.

“Come on Mirren all ya need is a pair of sixes” the tall man to the left of him said. The boy grinned.

“And it’s exactly what I’ll get!” he exclaimed, and threw the dice from his hand. The triplet of white cubes bounced upon the surface of the table, and one stopped. Six. In a split second, another stopped. One. Finally the last ended its roll, and fell onto the numbered side…

Six.

“Boo-yah!!” the boy shouted, his longer chestnut hair flying as he almost leapt into the air. On the other side of the table, two other men groaned, and smacked their foreheads or pounded on the table.

“Gaah! That’s the fifth frickin’ time the kid’s won!” one of them yelled. The young man in the green tunic laughed.

“Good job Mirren, you’ve been on fire tonight” he said. The boy grinned.

“Dang right, and I ain’t stopping yet Ceerlin!” Mirren replied. The taller man by them also laughed, garbed by a light grey open-coat and indigo pants, and with a head of short, brown spiky hair.

“Yeah, well I hate to say it, but I think it’d be better if we got home soon” he commented. Mirren gave a bit of a groan himself now.

“Aww, come on, already?” he asked. Ceerlin smiled.

“Sona’s right Mirren, we’ve been here a good four hours, Saldia’s gonna be pissed if we get back late again” the young man explained. Mirren seemed to try and not grit his teeth, so instead he simply sighed.

“Okay…” the young teen moaned. “But I’m taking my money then!” he exclaimed as he face lit back up and as he literally swiped all the gems off the table that he won from his dice playing. Ceerlin chuckled, and followed behind the lad and Sona as they all left together for the exit. One of the other men at the table let out a sigh of relief.

“Good, they’re finally gone, now we can win some money…” he remarked. The other seemed a bit apprehensive as he dug through his wallet.

“Uhh, actually I’m broke now…”


Outside the two young men and the boy walked together, making their way through the rest of the village as they talked amongst each other and joked around. These three were the greatest warriors in the entire land, and three of the most-well known people in the area. The young man was Ceerlin Jadewood, the most famous hero in this time, his skills and bravery so renowned from his five year-wandering about the country, where he won countless battled and saved several villages and towns from giant animals and wicked warriors. The boy was Mirren Jadewood, a fourteen year old lad who was actually the younger cousin of Ceerlin, by ten years. He like his older cousin was an amazing swordsman, even for his age, and while no where near as famous as the young man, was still known for his strength. The other young man was a few years older than Ceerlin, named Sona Relado, who was instead an incredible martial-artist, a man who used his fists and feet to battle.

These three all lived at the wonderful mansion owned by Saldia Sharla, the princess of the land who they had all known their entire life. The warriors lived their lives in peace, enjoying themselves to the fullest, while at the same time helping out anyone who needed it at any time. They were truly the greatest men in the land…

“Man, thank God Saldia’s sleeping now, or we’d be dead!” Sona commented.

…except for that they deliberately broke their promise to their friend not to go out and gamble that night…

Originally Posted by Mirren

Anyways enjoy the prologue!! ^_^

Whoa, nice sprites you have thar. Anyway, I really like it, but then again, I love all of your Fictions, just like my sister...

Intresting read. A bit of humour in their as well. Looking to see more.

Hey thanks guy, I appreciate the comments

This is only about half or 1/3 of the chapter now, but I'd like to not post the entire thing in one huge blob, so I'll go with parts of each chapter as I continue. Hope you enjoy this one, as well as the new sprite scene!










Chapter 1- The Unknown Leader; Mysterious Commanding

As the sun climbed up into the clouds, it let off its gorgeous rays of light, illuminating the land and warming the soil with the gentle heat. The skies were clear, and there wasn’t a mere wind blowing on this calm, soothing day. It was now eleven o’clock, and much of the land was awake, including the triplet of hooligans; Ceerlin, Mirren and Sona.

The three had been awake for about an hour now, and after a good breakfast each, they gathered together their favorite long-ranged weapons, and began to make their way out of the mansion-estate where they lived. Dashing down the pathway to the exit, they all thought of the fun that awaited them to where they were planning to go.

“Oh man, I can’t wait to go to the Shooting Course, I haven’t been able to test out my Six Shot Pistol!” Sona declared, holding up his handgun.

“Yeah well I can’t wait to keep practicing with my long bow. Once I master this thing I’m gonna enter the next Shooting Contest and win all the money!” Mirren appended. Ceerlin laughed.

“No way you gonna win that, because I’ll been whuppin’ you with my crossbow!” the young man challenged. The three of them continued their chatter as they neared the exit, chortling along the way in their almost wacky fun. That was, of course, until they noticed a certain someone they knew blocking their path.

“And where do you think you guys are going!?” she yelled. In an instant, the three of them instantly stopped dead in their tracks, and their faces warped with a hint of ‘fright’ as they froze before Saldia, the Princess of the land, and their best friend. Or, at least she wasn’t their friend now…

“Heeey uhh, Saldia, how ya doin’?” Ceerlin asked with a toothy smile, though showing off every bit of nervousness he had in him at the moment. The beautiful young woman, dressed by a rose-colored velvet long sleeve shirt and a light pink sarong, glared at them almost ‘malevolently’ as she crossed her arms.

“Oh, I’m doing fine, but no where near as much as you guys obviously, and all the money you won last night” she harshly replied. Mirren cringed.

“Ooh, she got us…” the boy muttered. Sona gulped and stretched his shirt off his neck to try and cool himself down.

“Come on Saldia ya can’t be mad at us, I mean we just wanted to find something to do last night and we decided to…” he began before she interrupted him.

“Break the promise you made to that you wouldn’t go to the Gambling Hall…” Saldia finished off for him. Mirren seemed a bit curious at that moment then.

“Hey wait a minute, how’d ya know we went out?” the lad asked. Saldia’s glare increased as she looked over at him, and showed off a pair of red dice in her hands.

“Because you dropped these out here…” the Princess answered, a sharp tone to her voice. Ceerlin couldn’t help but wince, knowing full-well that they’d been caught red-handed.

“We’re sorry Saldia, we won’t do it again” the warrior tried to say with the most innocent smile he could come up with. Saldia’s facial expression didn’t change one bit.

“That’s what I’ve heard the last three times”. Ceerlin’s eyes simply widened as he heard that, as he became petrified in the position he was in. The young woman then reached into her pocket, and pulled out a small piece of parchment.

“Look, just go back to Tokoio Village and pick up a couple supplies for the place, and I’ll let this all go” she stated, now lessening in anger. Mirren appeared a bit suspicious of the idea, and took a few steps over to her as he eyed the young woman carefully.

“And what makes you think we’ll just do that…?” the boy questioned, trying to give off an intimidating feel. Saldia merely grinned.

“I’ll switch the toilet paper with sandpaper for every bathroom but mine…” she answered. Not even a full second after the lad’s face distorted to a wide-eyed expression, he snatched the parchment from her hand, and took off down the path, Ceerlin and Sona following right behind him as they ran off, most surely to Tokoio Village. Saldia turned away, her long golden-brown hair swaying with her as she smiled. “I knew that one would work”

* * *

During the day, Tokoio Town was the most pleasant settlement in the entire country. As the afternoon rolled along, people of all ages would walk the roads, talking amongst each other, taking a simple stroll about the area, or looking around to shop at one of the many stores and kiosks that sat on the sides of the pathways. Gentle music always seemed to be playing, either by a skipping troubadour or by a grand orchestra that would stand in the town square on a stage performing beautiful melodies on their instruments; guitars, flutes, drums and even pianos of sorts. Children laughed playfully as they fooled around with their friends, playing a game or running away and playing ‘tag’. Merchants sat within their stands, hawking their ways as people passed by all over, trying their hardest to get every customer they could possibly tend to.

With the sun shining, a cool breeze blowing, and the sky clearer than the most expensive bottled water, noon-time in Tokoio Town was absolutely perfect.

But today was a bit, different…


Sona walked out from the hardware store, groaning and muttering to himself as stepped down from the small porch that the entrance was on, and set the bag down he brought out from the building. Mumbling something else, he pulled out one of pieces of paper with the list of supplies Saldia wanted them to buy, and the surly man checked off the last item on the list.

“Go and get these supplies guys, I really need them!” he began saying aloud, mostly to himself, and mocking the way Saldia talked, “yeah, just go out and waste your day while I stay here at the mansion in peace as you buy a load of crap we don’t need!!” he finished off, his voice changing back to normal as his tone grew louder within the sentence. His head nearly steaming, the martial-artist stood gritting his teeth and tensing his entire body up from his extremely aggravated personality at the moment.

“Yo Sona!” he heard someone call out then. Instantly he let his anger go, and looked to his side to see Mirren and Ceerlin coming towards him, the two of them carrying a bag of random objects each.

“Oh good, you guys got all of your stuff on the list?” Sona asked. Ceerlin nodded.

“Yep, looks like we’re done now” the young man replied, obviously pleased that their task was finished. Sona gave a sigh of relief.

“Well thank God. Let’s the get the hell outta here and get to the Shooting Course before I get so mad that I feel like kickin’ her…” he started off, and then was interrupted by Mirren, who was looking over towards the Gambling Hall.

“Hey, what’s going on over there?” the boy asked. Ceerlin and Sona glanced over at the building, and were in fact quite surprised at what they saw.


Surrounding the structure was a barricade of the thin yellow banners for crime scenes, and with several police officers all around the area, searching every inch of the zone or guarding the hall so no one could get in. Adding to that protection were a couple other police men, who had the arduous job of containing the crowd of residents that wished to get closer and find out what had happened. In the middle of the fray was Colonel Nathon Mossa, the head of the police division in the area and actually one of the top officials in the army. Clad by navy blue pants, and then another deep blue military vest with cyan shoulder pads, the man spat out all sorts of orders, his royal blue colored hair whipping all about as his head turned from different officer to officer.

“You two, make sure that crowd that didn’t by, keep ‘em back! And the rest of you, if they need help, get your butts in there! Hey you, don’t slow down with that searching, search every dang blade of grass in the area!” Nathon shouted, now beginning to feel stressed by the situation. As he gave a deep sigh, he managed to notice Ceerlin and the others behind him as he looked from the corner of his eye, and the officer turned around. “Hey, what’s going on guys?” he asked.

“We were gonna ask you the same thing” Ceerlin replied. Nathon looked quite serious now, and looked back at the Gambling Hall.

“There was some trouble here last night. According to witnesses inside, at sometime around three-thirty, a rich land-owner came in and played cards with a few guys. Apparently he said he’d bet twenty ruby coins and the others would only have to bet only an emerald coin each, and if they’d win they’d get his whole bet. Well, turned out that he won, and the guys didn’t have the money to pay him, so the land-owners goons beat the holy hell outta them” Mossa explained. Mirren winced.

“Ooh, must’ve been bad if it caused this whole mess…” the boy commented. Nathon nodded.

“Aye, they were pretty battered, but luckily they got medical attention just in time, and they all survived. About an hour or two later and they’d be dead” he said. Ceerlin’s eyes were narrowed now as he thought of something.

“Say, who was the rich-dude that won?” the young man asked. Colonel Mossa almost gave a disgusted look now.

“It was that Seijuka Balora, a real prick” Nathon spat. Sona seemed to completely agree.

“Yeah, that guy’s nothing but a rat and a crook” the man added. Ceerlin appeared almost curious now.

“Did you guys manage to arrest him?” he asked. At this question, Nathon shrugged his shoulders a bit and slipped his hands into his pockets.

“Nope, and we can’t just yet”. Mirren’s eyes widened with disbelief.

“Why!? The guy friggin’ had three dudes get the life beaten out of them!” the boy challenged. Nathon sighed, looking very much dispirited as he thought over about the matter.

“The people that attacked the guys were a nasty gang of ninja-like men, the Zolu actually. But the problem is, from all of our witnesses, Seijuka didn’t give a single command to them to attack. Hell, from what we’ve heard, he didn’t even seem to pay attention to them, as if they weren’t there, he gave no verbal or physical sign that made them attack” he spoke.

“Well, he’s gotta be connected to them somehow then, can’t he be arrested for that?” Ceerlin asked. Nathon shook his head.

“Not him particularly, anyone else yeah, but we’ve done extreme research on him and the Zolu, as this ain’t exactly the first time something like this has happened. But no matter how much snooping we do, we can never find cold hard evidence that he’s allied with them, so until then we don’t have the right to get him, or even put him under probation. From all we’ve concluded, it’s like they just follow him around and try to serve him, while he just goes with the flow and lets whatever happens happen” After he finished, Ceerlin, Sona and Mirren looked as if they couldn’t believe a word he was saying, and their facial expressions testified to their thinking, even when Ceerlin was usually quite grim looking in a circumstance like this. After a few more moments, he stretched his arms a bit, and let off a bit of a yawn. “Well, I gotta get back to work, you guys can stick around if ya want, but for now I’ll see ya another time” he stated. Ceerlin nodded.

“Right, later” he replied, and as the Colonel got back to yelling more orders and investigating the scene, Ceerlin began to walk off, Mirren and Sona following with him.

“Man, that’s some crazy stuff right there. I’ve never heard of any type of situation like that” Sona commented, still amazed at the news they heard.

“Yeah really, that’s gotta suck for Nathon, knowing that idiot is in on the whole thing, but they can’t get the evidence to prove it” Mirren added, feeling the same way. “What do you think Ceerlin?” the boy asked then. Oddly, the young man had stopped, and looked as if he stood frozen as he stared down into the bag of supplies he bought for Saldia. Mirren and Sona cocked an eyebrow at each other in bemusement.

“Yo Ceerlin, what’s up man?” Sona inquired. Quietly, and if slowly, he finally said something.

“Saldia’s frozen yogurt’s melting…” Sona’s and Mirren’s faces tensed up, and Ceerlin slowly turned his head back at them. After a few moments of looking at each other, realizing how bad the problem was, they finally all exclaimed in unison-

“Crap!!!”