Kaufman's Fortunate chapter 9

“What are those things?”  Nan gasped.

“Some kind of mobile canon”  Raven  proclaimed.

The mobile canons trek across the Sands of Kogoth with an eerie crawl with a trial of tread marks behind them.  Suddenly, from the lead one of the three huge war machines a figure rose up from its underbelly.  The individual pulled up his goggles to reveal his red eyes.  He raised his hand up high and as he dropped it all three canon fired in unison.

Raven and Fortunate ducked down as the huge shells whiz by them.

“We can’t survive a direct hit of that!”  Nan shouted.

“It’s a canon right, why can’t we just plug it up?”  Leblanc asked.

Raven looked at his former student and, gave him a pat on the back.

“Leblanc, you have learned a thing or two didn’t you?”  Raven ran towards the mobile canons.

“Knights protect, Raven the Great”  Leblanc ordered.

Raven pulled out three arrows and, made his way to the lead canon.  At one point the canon fires at him but, a knight shoves Raven out of the way.  Raven got back up and looked back.  He silently promises that his sacrifice won’t be in vain.  Raven fired his first arrow and breaks open right before it hit’s the lead canon’s barrel.  Glue was released that stuck onto the end of the mobile canon’s barrel.

“You will pay for that!”  The man jumped down from his platform.

Ringbores goes whizzing by both Raven and the man which catches the man’s attention.  He watches as Nan catches her giant ring on its return.  He heads towards her.

“Hey knife ears, how dare you share the same air I, Alexei Rosenberg breathes”  He lunges at Nan.

Kandor gets between them though and slams Thororion into Alexei’s gut.

“We can breathe the air, it doesn’t belong to you”  Kandor grunted.

Alexei sighed as he had dirty his hands with this dwarf.  He was created the perfectly and, all those who were not like Alexei were no different then the sands of the desert.  Alexei took out a small whistle and blew it.  The other two mobile canons fired and Kandor was thrown backward.

“Kandor!”  Nan went to him and held his head.

“Kandor is fine, she-elf”  He grunted.

Raven fired glue arrows into the barrels of the other canons rendering them useless or at least the firing ability anyways.  He ordered a retreat to the crag which Duke and his cohorts believed they had the advantage which is but, Raven had a trump card still.

“Stop Duke!  For the kid gloves are off now!  If you continue this battle, it will lead to your peril”  Raven warned.

Duke began to laugh insanely.

“If you haven’t noticed you are trapped between a rock and hard place”  Duke crackled as he could taste victory.

“Look again Duke, or I should say look up?”  Raven pointed to the top of the crag.

Duke looked up and his laughter ended as he saw his true situation.  Perched on top of the crag was a huge bird.  He had never seen this bird personally before but, knew it was Phaeroh  the phoenix Entellica.  Suddenly he heard a rumble behind him and there was giant dragon blocking their escape.  Kroma the dragon Entellica took a deep breathe in and burned a wall of fire around the war machines.

Alexei cleaned out the glue in the barrel of his mobile canon but, as he orders for it to be fired Gustoes the griffion Entellica picks up the mobile canon and drops it on another one of the mobile canons.

Duke pressed a button on his head set and metal bird swept in and he grabs on an escape ladder.  Raven took a quick look to see that Phaeroh was healing Kandor’s wounds with his tears, as well sees Kam-Re landing near him.

“He can’t get away, let’s go Kam-Re”  Raven climbed up on the winged horse.

Raven followed the metal bird on his winged friend.  He points down to Mount Temza to direct Kam-Re to head there. Kam-Re got ahead of Duke’s plane and, as Raven expected Duke followed them towards the huge mountain.  Kam-Re continued to head right at the side of mountain.  Raven pulled hard on the reigns just before they colliding with Temza but, Duke wasn’t as lucky.  His plane smashes into the mountain.  There is a huge boom as Duke’s corpse is burning and cover in a mix of his blood and oil.

As Raven landed back near his friends a huge rumble came from the ocean.  A huge monster with ten heads rose out of the water.

“Oh no it’s the Adageagos, we were too late”  Kam-Re sighed.

Raven walked over the huge creature.  He extended his arms looked into the many eyes of the monster.

“If you were here to destroy this world, I will stop you!”  Raven proclaimed.

“Ah, the server of my brothers, I could crush you and then everyone would bow down to me but, I think this will be more fun”  Adageagos picked up Raven and threw him into a dark void.

“Raven! Where did you send him?”  Phaeroh demanded.

“To the Tower of Terror Dawn, of course”  He answered with an unison laugh from all his heads.

The end

To be continued in The Tower of Terror Dawn

Kaufman's Fortunate chapter 8

“Raven!  Have you lost your mind?”  Kaufman shook her head in disbelief,

“No, the longer this fight goes on, the more that will get hurt.  We have to end this fight right now”  Raven declared.

“Yeah, but why here?  It’s so hot”  Nan wiped the sweat from her brow.

“Three reasons.  First one, no people live here so no innocents will be caught in the crossfire of this fight.  Second one, It’s a part of my plan, and last reason, because I have a friend that lives around here and, I think it’s time for Duke and him to meet”  Raven explained.

The whole group looked at each other and all around.  They wondered who would live in such a desolate and hot place?  Raven looked over the desert field and noticed the rocky crag to the south.  He drew a sand map with one end of his bow.

“Ok, listen we have to keep that crag behind us, we can’t let Duke get between us and that crag.  If things get too troubled fall back towards that crag.  Understood?”  Raven pointed at the crag.

The group all nodded in unison but, they couldn’t understand what Raven was planning.  What was so special about that crag?  Before they had the time to really consider it though a huge dust field began to sweep towards them.  Raven took out his looking glass and saw three auto-coaches like the one he saw before.  In the middle one, there was Duke who had some strange looking horn in his hand.  No doubt another banned machine Raven thought.  To Duke’s left was the Blood Alliance’s boss, Barbos who had replaced his trusted sword for one of Duke’s long guns.  On the right was Duke’s right hand, Evan Eagles who had a smirk on his face as they approached.

Duke put the strange horn to his mouth and his voice boomed across the lands as if he could be heard across the entire planet.

“Ah, Great archer we meet again, I never thought you would want to fight me again after I left in the condition you were in at Zaude”  Duke laughed.

“Duke!  Listen to me, you are leading the world to its ruin.  A monster is coming and it’s drawn to the banned machines.  If you won’t stop yourself, then I will end your reign of terror”  Raven declared.

Duke smirked and yawned in boredom.  He pressed a button next to him and a mounted gun rose from the back end of his vehicle.  The gun was different from the other ones that he had used before. Instead of one barrel, it had several that ringed around a center barrel.  He pressed another button and the mounted gun’s barrels began to rotate and fire.  As each barrel made its way to the top of circle it fired.

Raven and Fortunate had to duck down into the sand to avoid the continuous fire.  Raven tried to stop the multiple fire gun but, his arrows bounced off with no effect.  Then Raven remembered how he noticed the rubber tires on the auto-coach.  He fired two arrows.  The two arrows hit the front wheels.

“Nice try archer but, your arrows won’t make them flat.  These wheels were once called run flat tires”  Duke laughed at his own joke.

However the joke was on Duke though.  Raven figured that his arrows wouldn’t alone make them flat but, he didn’t fire ordinary arrows.  After a few seconds, the left arrow blew up.  The auto-coach hunched over from its left side.  Then the right arrow also exploded.  The mounted gun broke off its mount as the auto-coach crashed down.

Duke still had an arrogant smile on his face as he gave a glance over to both Barbos and Eagles.  The backend of the two cohorts’ auto-coaches opened and twelve troopers came marching out of each machine.  Raven fired a barrage of arrows at the troops but, their armor protected them.

“Finally!  Some fun!”  Kandor grunted.

Kandor rushed the unit of thugs.  They fired their long guns but, nothing could slow down the dwarf.  He slammed his mighty hammer Thororion on the ground.  The earth shook and the troopers fell over.  Yeager swept the legs of one trooper but, as he was going to drive Leviathan’s Claw into his torso, Barbos tackled him.

“You will die by my hand laddie”  Barbos began to choke Yeager.

For Yeager it was rare for him to be in a battle that he wasn’t the biggest but, the brute was not only taller then him but much more heavier.  Yeager remembered a move he had learned recently from Nan that would be perfect.  He chopped the elbows of Barbos with quick slaps.  Barbos grip loosen and, Yeager pushed him away.

Nan was surrounded  by an unit of troopers.  She pulled her large ring and threw it in a circular motion.

“I just hate crowds”  Nan grabbed Ringbores as it came back to her.

Duke grunted in disgust at the poor display of his  army.  He pressed a button next to his right ear and a small microphone extended out..

“Send in the fighters”  He said into the microphone.

Suddenly a roar came from the distance.  Raven looked over towards the commotion.  At first he thought it was just more auto-coaches but, these machines didn’t have wheels.  They trek across the sands with tread bands but, that was not what all of Kaufman’s Fortunate was staring at.  In the front of each machine was huge long canons.

“We’re seriously outnumbered here”  Nan sighed.

“How do you like my tank fighters, little birdie”  Duke laughed sinisterly.

Duke’s joy ended quickly when he heard another rumble coming.  He looked back and saw several hundred horsemen in full gallop entering the area.

“Stage one of my plan is compete, now we’re in stage two”  Raven said to himself.

Kaufman's Fortunate chapter 7

Kaufman’s Fortunate entered the village of Mantinea and noticed a commotion around the town center.  A man was standing on a podium and, screaming his doubt and fears among everyone around him.  Raven got off his horse and took a spot in the crowd as he listened to the crazed man.  Raven heard a teenage girl counter his rants by saying that “Raven the Great is coming to help”

“Raven the Great is a myth.  Everyone says he’s eight feet tall and can shoot fire from his eyes.  He isn’t coming to save you, we’re all doomed!”  The crazed man screamed

Raven grabbed the mouth of Nan who was about to speak up.  “I’ll handle this myself”  He said quietly.

“You’re right, Raven is not coming.  Why would someone that big and powerful waste his time helping people and you’re right Raven isn’t going to save you, because you will save yourselves.  I will teach you how to fend for yourselves.  Yes, Raven isn’t coming, for I am Raven, and I am already here!”  Raven proclaimed.

“You’re not Raven, you are not even all that big”  The crazed idiot countered.

“People can make a difference no matter how big they are,  Meet my friend Kandor, he’s a dwarf, and yet he is one of the strongest warriors I’ve ever known.  Meet the incredible Nan, she isn’t big either but, her skills are so fine that she can tackle people much bigger then them and as for me, I am an archer and with proper training and practice the bow can be very powerful for anyone no matter what size.”  Raven declared.

Kaufman’s Fortunate set up training areas for the village.  Raven taught archery.  He fired an arrow with Dein Nomos.  He did it slower then usual  so the crowd could see how he pulled the bow back.

“Duke’s agents use the gun but, it has a weakness.  The gun only has one shot.  It takes them forever to reload.  I can fire seven arrows in one minute, while I don’t expect the same from a new archer, I believe you can do three arrows which is still two more arrows then the one bullet from their guns”  Raven explained.

Nan taught star throwing in the next station.  She threw a throwing star in each hand at the bulls eye.  She watched as the villagers threw theirs.  A few stars hit the target while others went into the ground.  The young elf slapped her forehead.  “This is gonna be a long day”  She said quietly.

Yeager’s station was meant to teach how to use the common items they had as weapons.  He swept the leg of a training dummy then stabbed it with Leviathan’s Claw.

“You can do this with the pitch forks you use everyday on your farms.”  Yeager explained.

Raven looked over the gateway as a trial of dust swept across the land.  He could barely see a metallic reflection in front the sweep.  He reached into his bag of tricks and pulled his looking glass.  He zoomed in and saw some kind of stage coach but, not an ordinary one.  There were no horses pulling this metal object along the ground.  He realized that it had to be another one of Duke’s machines.  He looked the machine over and noticed its wheels looked black and, made of rubber.  He wondered if the rubber could be pierced?

“Everyone to your positions!  They are coming!”  Raven ordered.

Most of the villagers hid in various spots.  Which left only Raven, the rest of Fortunate, and the town elder out in the open.  The auto-coach came to a stop and a man stepped out.  The man had a long range gun strapped across his shoulder, two more hand guns to each of his sides, and over his right eye was a red lens monocle.

“I want my weekly, payment old man”  He pointed at the elder.

“They’re not going to pay you anymore, stranger”  Raven countered.

“Ah, Raven the Great, my boss told me about you and your cohorts, but you are wrong these people are so afraid and…”  The man snapped his fingers.

Suddenly from the back of the auto-coach, opened and rushing out were twelve blood alliance thugs which each of them had a long gun in the hands.

“As you can see, you are outnumbered”  The man laughed.

“Now!”  Raven shouted.

A volley of arrows came flying out from the distance.  The frazzled troops fired their guns in random directions.  They then were forced to fumble around with their gun trying to reload them.  Before they could complete the reloading another volley came soaring towards them.

“They’re not afraid of you anymore.”  Raven proclaimed.

The second unit came in next with their throwing stars.  None of the stars did any damage but, the small spinning metal objects continued to put the thugs on edge.  They stumbled about as the third unit came ready.

“I didn’t catch your name by the way.  Send a message to Duke for me.  I’m tired of this crap, come meet me in the Sands of Kogoth for a epic battle to decide all”  Raven ordered.

“I’m Evan Eagles, and if you are that stupid to have a fight with Duke, he’ll be glad to crush your spirit”  Eagles laughed.

The third unit ready with their pitch forks tripped the thugs and disarmed them with a quick sweeping move.  The troops got up and ran away screaming in fear.  Eagles shook his head.

“Good help is so hard to find, well I guess I’ll be off, I’ll deliver your message, little birdie”  He got into the auto-coach.

Raven laughed as he looked around at the villagers who were no longer afraid but, rejoicing their victory.  Raven mounted his horse and, began to ride off.

“Wait!  How can we thank you for saving us?”  The elder asked.

Raven turned his horse back and rode up to the elder.

“Did I fire those arrows?  Did I throw those stars?  Did I wield those pitch forks?  No I didn’t save you, you saved yourself as I told you that you would.  Now you know how to fight for your home and will let no bully take it from you”  Raven rode off.

“One question Raven, why the Sands of Kogoth?”  Yeager asked.

“The only advantage we have is to pick the venue dear friend, and well I have a plan”  Raven explained.

Kaufman's Fortunate chapter 6

“And that’s what I’ve been up to since we last saw each other”  Raven said.

He looked around and all their jaws were still dropped.  He didn’t know it was about the flying city, about the tablet that spelt out his destiny or that Vesperia was endanger to being eaten by a large monster.  As Yeager was about to finally say something a tiny bird flew into the room.  A note was tied on the avian’s leg.  Raven gently picked up the bird and, removed the note from its skinny leg.

“What’s that?”  Nan asked.

“It’s what separates a good spy from the great ones.  Information, I have informants all over the world that provide me intelligence.”  Raven explained as he rolled out the note, and fed the bird before it flew back off.

Raven read the note silently.  The next moment surprised everyone, the cool and calm leader slammed his fist on the table.

“Bastard!  What kind of man does that?”  Raven screamed.

Yeager picked up the note and read it aloud.

“Dear my friend, it’s terrible, Duke and Barbos have made a labor camp of women.  They are torturing them and holding their children imprisoned.  Come quickly my friend we’re at Halure, rescue them please, signed Cumore”  Yeager read.

“Cumore?  He is a spy inside the Blood Alliance, I never expected”  Yeager added.

“I have quite a few Blood Alliance members secretly working for me, you included remember Yeager”  Raven proclaimed.

:No longer working in secret”  Yeager countered back.

“Kaufman, have the course set for Port Torim that’s the closest we can get to Halure from sea”  Raven ordered.

Raven knew that was why Duke must had chosen that area.  Being that it was landlocked no one could attack him from seaside.  Raven also knew that meant that instead of a rescue he needed to take control of the camp for they couldn’t get the prisoners out quickly cause of the location.  Raven quietly wrote a note and placed it on a leg of another bird.  He whispers something to the small bird before letting it fly off.

“What was that for?”  Yeager asked.

“Just in case”  Raven answered.

Raven looked over towards Kaufman and, softly growled.  He was still fuming over this behavior.  He still was having trouble understanding how a man could treat women this way.  He would never lay a hand on his wife or any other female either and, the idea that Duke was torturing innocent women and keeping them from their children just boggled Raven’s mind.

At Torim, Raven dipped several of his arrows into a poison.  He knew his usual tactic wouldn’t work.  He usually never intended to keep someone.  He would do just enough  to get the job done but, that was against men.  He had figured out that Duke isn’t a man at all.  A real man wouldn’t do such a thing.  Real men know that they are nothing without a good woman along their side.  For she completes the man and gives him balance in their lives.

“No, that bastard is no man, he’s a monster”  Raven declared.

They traveled during night to give them more an edge approaching Halure in secret.  Halure had a huge wall around and barb wire wrapped around the top of the wall.  However Raven, had something for that wall.  He pulled out an arrow and fired into the wall.  Few seconds later, the arrow exploded and the four heroes rushed in through the gap.

Raven fired arrow after arrow which dropped each thug with effective toxic that quickly took their health and fight out of them.  He did not see the two he really wanted to get a taste of his venom though.  He did see though women both young and old with blood stained clothes.

Yeager ripped through former members of his Blood Alliance with mighty swings of his sickle.  He reached the prison gate and broke off the lock with a slash of Leviathan’s Claw.  The image of young boys and girls shaking in wet and cold clothes made him as anger as his fearless leader.

“It’s alright come with me, Lady Kaufman has food and blankets for you”  Yeager led the children out.

Kandor slammed his hammer on the ground and the thugs fell down from the rumbles.  He continued to grunt and slam his hammer as he took on each enemy.  Suddenly, one  of them though tripped him with a lasso.  The killer stood over him with his sword ready to end the dwarf’s life.  Kandor closed his eyes as the sword began to come down towards him but, then he heard a thump.  He opened his eyes and the thug was on his back and Ringbores was lying next to the thug.

“You alright?”  Nan offered her hand to him to help him up.

Kandor froze for a moment.  The thought he was just rescued by an elf girl was a blow to his pride but, after giving it some thought he reached up and accepted her hand.

“Aye, but don’t think this will become a habit, I don’t need your help elf”  Kandor grunted.

“You’re welcome”   Nan replied.

Raven continued to fire arrows all around and, making his way to command center.  He wondered who Duke might had left in charge of Halure until he saw a familiar face.

“Miss me Raven?  Did you really think our fight was over”  Zagi said.

“I warn you Zagi, my arrows are poisoned, if you do this it will be to the death”  Raven replied.

“That’s fine with me, my daggers are poisoned as well”  Zagi threw a knife at Raven.

Raven dodged the small blade.  Before he counter though Zagi was on top of him.  He grabbed Zagi’s wrist as Zagi attempted to stab him with a toxic blade.  Suddenly, there was a great rumble from the distance..

“It’s the Knights!”  A Blood Alliance thug shouted.

“That was the just in case”  Yeager said with a smile.

Zagi got off Raven and began to ride off on a black horse.

“No, I don’t think so this time”  Raven fired an arrow as he rode off.

It hit Zagi in the leg and, he fell off his horse.  Zagi pulled the arrow out and continue to limp away.  Nan was about to throw a throwing star but, Raven stopped her hand.

“He’s already dead, he just doesn’t know it yet.  Don’t waste the star”  Raven ordered.

“Raven!  It’s good to see you old friend”  Leblanc rode up on a horse.

“Sir Leblanc, I offer the order of the Knights this fine fort for the order.  Take good care of it”  Raven hugged his former student.

“Perfect, we take a place from Duke and give it to one of our allies, that’s killing two birds with one stone Raven”  Yeager laughed.

They all laughed together.

Over the next few days, Kaufman provided warm clothes and meals to those who had been mistreated by Duke.  Leblanc had been named the commander of Fort Halure and, was given an unit of two hundred knights and thirty archers to help him defend his new post.

It was a victory today but, it was only the first fight of many to come.  Raven received another message bird that told him a small village was being bullied by Duke’s Agents.  He gathered his friends and, wished his former pupil well.

“I’m very proud of you, Sir Leblanc, we have to go to help more people being mistreated”  Raven explained.

“Thank you my friend, if you ever need help, just send message my men and I will serve Raven the Great!”  Leblanc shouted as Raven rode off.

Kaufman's Fortunate chapter 5

Raven fell from the top of Zaude.  Drops of red raining down ahead of him as he descended to the ocean below.  Raven closed his eyes as he was to hit the water but, suddenly he wasn’t falling anymore.  He opened his eyes and he was lying on the ground.  He got up and, looked himself over.  He noticed the eight holes from Duke’s gunfire had closed up.  The only sign that he had ever been shot was the blood stains and holes in his top.  He looked around and saw nothing familiar to him.  The area had ivory houses all around and golden roads running through.  He walked towards a huge gate and looked beyond.

“Whoa, this city is in the sky”  Raven gasped.

“Welcome to Sky City”  A voice behind him said.

Raven turned and saw a huge winged horse.  The Pegasus was white and had huge golden wings.  Raven noticed the silver eyes as well which told him this was an Entellica he had not yet met before.  Raven bowed in respect to the great flying horse.

“I am Raven the Great, the child of the full moon, forgive great Entellica but I am not familiar with you“  Raven introduced himself.

“I am Kam-Re the Pegasus Entellica.  I watch and protect this great hidden city of Sky City.  Wait did you say your name is Raven? “  Kam-Re asked.  “A raven was a black bird”  Kam-Re added quietly to himself.

“Yes, I am Raven”  Raven answered.

Kam-Re grabbed Raven tossing him into the air and placing him on his back.  Kam-Re began to ride to the biggest house of the city.  As he reached the doors they swung open for the winged horse automatically.  Inside was a huge wall inscription in Entellexian language.  Raven looked it over.

“One day, the black bird will come, and he will usher in generations of peace, and be a protector of the innocent, and a defender of justice, but the black bird will receive a great defeat by an evil using the weapons agreed to be no longer used, the black bird will return with a new friend who has wings of gold and great bow of bravery, he will defeat his enemy and stave off the Adageagos”  Raven red the story.

“Well, I am the black bird, it is talking about, friend with wings of gold that be you, Kam-Re.  The enemy that using banned weapons that’s Duke, but what is the bow of bravery and what is the Adageagos?”  Raven asked.

“I am sorry my friend, but I am not familiar with the Adageagos; however the bow of bravery on the other hand.  It’s a weapon that was made by my brotherhood.  It’s one of four weapons that great heroes must be tested and earned to use.  The bow’s name is Dein Nomos.  There’s also Leviathan’s Claw, Thororion, and Ringbores as well.”  Kam-Re explained.

“Phaeroh would know can you take me to him, Kam-Re”  Raven asked.

Without hesitating Kam-Re ran out of the house.  Raven had to hold on hard not to be thrown off.  Kam-Re jumped into the air and began to flap his huge wings.  Kam-Re soared smoothly through the air.  Raven looked down and saw trees looking like small bushes.  Raven then saw the great Mt Temza look like a small hill from the heights they were.  Kam-Re landed at Phaeroh’s Crag.  The huge firebird rose his head as saw the Pegasus.

“Phaeroh, can you tell me what the Adageagos is?”  Raven asked as he got down from Kam-Re.

“Adageagos was once an Entellica but, he betrayed the brotherhood.  As you know, Raven we are guardians of the world.  Adageagos destroyed a planet long ago and, thus we cast him out into the realm of space itself.”  Phaeroh explained.

“So, what sub-species is he?  The picture at Sky City was damaged”  Raven replied.

“I know you are familiar with the human names we received when my kind lived on the planet of Earth.  Do you remember the legend of Hercules from Greek legend, in that story he fought a many sea monster with many heads which devour people with and to make matters worse if you remove a head.”  Phaeroh was cut off by Raven.  “It grew three more, so Adageagos is a hydria”  He said.

“Kam-Re I need to do some things before I can return to my friends, please watch over them.  I’ll meet you when you are ready for collecting the great weapons of old.”  Raven walked off towards Mt. Temza.

Kaufman's Fortunate chapter 4

The trio turned to see a hooded figure walking towards them. The hooded man took a place in a line across with Yeager along his side, and Kandor and Nan making the right end of the lineup.  He pull back his hood to reveal his face.

“I knew that idiot Duke couldn’t put you down”  Yeager declared.

“Who the heck is this human?”  Kandor grunted.

Yeager was about to answer that outburst but, the man grabbed his arm.

“Who am I?  I am one of the last of the children of the full moon, I am a member of a dying race, I am not a human, Dwarf!  I am Raven the Great, and the leader of Kaufman’s Fortunate!”  Raven proclaimed.

“In these caverns, there are four weapons, they are no ordinary weapons, they grant special powers to those who are deemed worthy of them.  Dien Nomos the Bow of Bravery, Leviathan’s Claw the Sickle of Strength, Thororion the Hammer of Honor, and Ringbores the Ring of Reality.  You each will have to pass a test to earn your weapon”  Kam-Re instructed.

Raven led the four into the caverns.  He reached into his bag of tricks and pulled out a flare.  He lit the flare and saw the symbols on the walls.

“This is Entellexian script”  He said.

“What?”  The trio said in unison.

“The race you know better as the children of full moon are the Entellexian, which are the evolved form of Entellica race, which I’m sure you noticed Kam-Re and all other of his kind have silver eyes like mine.  Most of my race dyed out in a war with the Kritian many centuries ago though.”  Raven explained.

“Well then, what does this stuff say?”  Yeager asked.

“Those who seek the arms of Entellexian must prove themselves worthy,  Each corridor contains one of the four.  For the archer that faces and passes his fear, he’ll received the bow of bravery,  For the reaper who proves he has true strength, he’ll earn the sickle of strength, for the ninja that proves that they can tell what’s real and what’s not will gain the ring of reality and, for the warrior who proves he fights with honor will be bestowed the hammer of honor”  Raven read.

Raven took the corridor that the bow would lead to.  He had no idea how the test might be like but, was confident he’ll pass.  After about fifty feet in, the corridor opened up to a large room.  Raven gasped as he saw Nan on the far end of a gap.  He was about to leap over to the other side when he saw the vipers in the gap below.  Raven stopped in his tracks.

“Why did it have to be snakes?”  He said.

Suddenly, a large snake grabbed Nan’s leg.  She screamed.  Raven’s fear of snakes was great but, his nature to helping someone in need was greater.  He reached out his zip line arrow and fired it across the gap.  He swung across the gap.  A few of the legless reptiles tried to take a bite at him but, he kept his body up high on the line.  He kicked off the snake on Nan, and was about to help her up when Nan disappeared.  In her place floated in midair was a golden bow.  The bow had diamond and ruby gems around its handle and on the inside arch was written.

“True bravery is to do what’s right even when you are scared.  This is the bow of bravery, Dien Nomos”  Raven read.
Yeager walked down the path set for Leviathan’s Claw.  He wondered how the sickle would be?  He also wondered what would be his test of strength.  He entered a large room with a huge rock pile in one corner.  He noticed Kandor standing next to the pile.  He was leaning against the rock pile.  The pile began to get loose.  A huge rock fell on top of the dwarf.  Yeager rushed over and began to try to push the huge rock away.  Kandor grunted in pain as Yeager failed to move to the stone.  Yeager took out his sickle and stuck the blade part under the rock creating a lever.  He pressed down as hard as he could.  His sickle’s handle bent as far as it could until it snapped.  The recoil of the snap moved the rock the last few feet to free Kandor.  Yeager went to help the dwarf but mist came and, where Kandor had been was a huge sickle.  The sickle had a scale armored rod and, the blade looked like it was made of a large animal’s claw and inscribed on the blade was its name.

“Leviathan’s Claw, I see where you get your name”  Yeager said as grabbed the reaper.

Kandor murmured to himself as he went down his path.  He was intrigued retrieve this weapon but, he was still steaming that he was taking orders from others.  Especially; from a human and a humanlike creature.  He entered a large room and saw Raven in the middle of fight circle.

“I’m challenging you Dwarf to a battle!”  Raven shouted.

Kandor fired out a war cry and, raised his hammer.  He rushed in towards Raven.  Raven fired a barrage of arrows at Kandor but, he ignored them and swung his hammer at the archer.  Suddenly the earth shook and Raven lost his balance.  Kandor stood over him with his hammer pulled back and ready to slam the archer.  Kandor froze in his tracks though, he grunted a few times as he put down his hammer.

“Nay, Kandor will not take a victory like that”  He reached down to help up Raven.

Raven faded away and, in his place was a huge war hammer that had ivory crusting.  Kandor looked at the hammer for several moments then he noticed dwarf script on the handle.

“Victory without honor is a defeat.  Always fight with honor and Thororion will never let you down”  He read.

Nan went down her journey.  She wondered what was in store for her.  She also wondered how the others were fairing.  As she entered a large room a ring of fire engulfed the area trapping her inside it.  

“This can’t be real”  Nan said.

She saw Yeager on the other side of the ring and he was on fire.  She wanted to help him but, she was afraid to get burned.  Then she remembered the test.

“Ring of Reality”  She said as she walked into the fire.

She felt no heat from the flames and when she reached Yeager he faded away as well.  A huge silver crested ring that she could tell she could throw and spin it like her former big star.  She noticed elfish writing on the center handle.

“If you know what’s real Ringbores will always be true”  She read.

She left the room and reentered the main corridor she was greeted by the others who also had received their prized weapons as well.
“Now let’s get back to the ship, so we can start taking the fight to Duke”  Raven ordered.

The foursome began to walk back to the Fietra.

Kaufman's Fortunate chapter 3

Kaufman moored the Fierta near a beach that was a day or two travel via horseback to Daghgrest.  Her way of thinking was that the Blood Alliance would be ready for them to dock at Daghgrest directly.  She noticed a new tower in the middle plains away from all of living signs.  The huge metal tower had giant canon on its top.  She kept wandering through her memories that she had seen a canon like that before but couldn’t recall where.

As they rode pass the tower the canon moved and aimed towards them.  Kaufman gave her ride a nudge to pick up its pace.  The canon began to fire huge fiery blasts.  They continued to ride hard as explosions crashed around them.  Kaufman led them towards the bridge that entered Daghgrest when suddenly the huge canon blasted away the bridge.  She pulled back on her horse to stop.  As she turned around though they were surrounded by members of Blood Alliance.  She also noticed they had a dwarf in bonds.

She gave Nan a look over and eyed the dwarf.  Nan nodded as she had the same idea.  Nan pulled a small ninja star from her belt and threw towards the dwarf.  The star sliced through the chain links with ease.  The dwarf grunted a war cry as he drew his war hammer and began to slam and smash his former captors.

The giant canon fired again and, shook the ground.  The Blood Alliance thugs grabbed Kaufman and held a knife to her throat.

“Drop your weapons or I kill the Lady Profit”  The thug proclaimed.

They sighed as they were forced to do as they were told.  The thugs led them to the huge tower.  It looked even taller up close.  The tower rose several hundred feet into the air.  Kaufman noted that the guards had guns like Duke’s gun.  “Are they working with Duke?”  She quietly asked herself.

“Well, what do we have here laddies?  Maybe I ought try out my new toy on you girlie”  Barbos pointed a gun at Kaufman.

“I thought the Blood Alliance didn’t play second fiddle to anyone, but now I see you’re just Duke’s lapdogs!”  Kaufman boasted defiantly.

Barbos slapped Kaufman across her face with the butt of his gun.  The others grunted in anger as she fell down.

“Take them to the cell”  Barbos ordered.

Guards grabbed Kaufman and drugged her across the floor while other guards ushered the others along as well.  The guards picked up Kaufman and tossed her into the cell and then the others were pushed in as well.

“Fine rescue you did”  The dwarf grunted.

“We were trying to help you” Nan took off her pink headband to use to clean Kaufman’s face.

Kaufman looked up at Nan and noticed for the first time that she had pointed ears.  The telltale sign of the elves.

“No wonder this rescue didn’t go as planned with an elf on the party”  The dwarf snorted.

“Well, maybe we would do better if you would carried your own weight shortie”  Nan shot back.

“Enough!  Both of you, this solves nothing, we have to be a team to get out of this, so Nan and I’m sorry I didn’t catch your name”  Kaufman raised her hands to get their attention.

“Me?  I, Kandor of Aspio”  Kandor introduced himself.

The cell door opened and a tall figure stepped in.  Kaufman’s green eyes burned with anger as she glazed over him.  The Blood Alliance’s second-in-command Yeager just looked her way for a few moments without saying a word.

“Leave us!”  He ordered the guards/

“But, Barbos said no one could be in here without an escort.”  One guard countered.

“Who am I?  No, better question who are you to question my orders?  I’m Barbos’ right hand, what I say is the same as his word for you now obey me or I’ll slay you where you stand”  Yeager raised his sickle.

The two guards sprinted out of the cell.  Yeager gave a small grin as they flew out of the door as fast as bats out of the abyss.  He turned back towards the group.

“Is it true that the Archer is dead?”  He asked Kaufman/

“What did you come to gloat and celebrate his death!”  Kaufman shouted back.

“On the contrary, my Lady Profit, Raven and I made had been enemies, I respected the man, and I know he shared the feeling, I don’t celebrate the death of my equal in battle.  Especially, if what Duke said is true.  Did he really gun down Raven like a coward?”  Yeager sighed.

“He did.  We were there, Leblanc and me, we saw it all.”  Kaufman replied.

“By the maker!  No great warrior deserves to go out that way!  I know, we have been enemies Lady Kaufman but, I have to make this right.”  Yeager opened his jacket and weapons rolled out from under.

He undid their bonds and, the warriors picked up a weapon from Yeager’s stash.  A small arsenal of throwing stars for Nan, a small battle ax for Kandor, and a short sword for Leblanc.  Yeager left the cell first.  He distracted the guards as the others slipped out as well.  Once Yeager saw they were all out he gave a quick and powerful punch across one guard’s jaw and, before the other could respond, Nan broke a flower pot over his head.

Yeager took lead as they continued to make their way to the exit.  He swung his huge reaper to keep away former compatriots.  Barbos grunted as he saw the betrayal right before his eyes.

“Yeager, you’re dead you lousy traitor”  Barbos shouted.

“You’re the traitor, Barbos, you sold out the Blood Alliance to Duke!”  Yeager countered back.

The group made their way through bad shots that couldn’t hit even a point blank range.  Duke’s guns that he had given the assassins were only good for single shots.  After firing the handguns reloading them was a pain in the neck.  Yeager used the reload time to move the group out the tower.  He knew that the worse part wasn’t over though.  For the last  line of defense wasn’t even Duke’s doing.  The huge canon on top of the tower was the same canon that Raven witnessed months ago on Mount Temza.  The canon that had a life of its own.  Kritian’s Heracles canon had been stolen by the Blood Alliance with help of Duke.  The canon fired a few shots around the heroes.

“Look it’s that winged horse again!”  Nan pointed into the sky.

Kam-Re flew round and round the tower which had the canon spinning trying to hit him.  He was too fast for the canon however.  The canon began to smoke as its turning gears overheated.  Kam-Re noticing the overheating landed next to the canon and gave it a huge kick with his hind legs.  The canon fell off the tower and slammed into the sand below.  Kam-Re landed next to the group.

“You lost some of your weapons my companions.  I know where you can find replacements if you are up for the quest”  Kam-Re pulled tossed a bag which he had in his mouth at Yeager’s feet.

Yeager opened the bag and saw a map.  He unrolled the map and looked it over.  He saw a cave marked on the Mecca land.  They continued their way back to the Fietra.

“We can’t go on this quest until your names are cleared”  Yeager took out a letter gave it to Leblanc.

“That letter will clear your names, it contains proof that you’re innocent”  Yeager added.

Kam-Re landed on the deck.

“Let me fly you, young knight to Daghgrest to get this clear up”  Kam-Re offered.

Leblanc tried to get on the winged horse but, fell off.  Yeager grabbed him and lifted him back up there.  Kam-Re flew off with Leblanc hanging on as tight as he could.

“It probably take some time before he gets back, I say we go find these legendary weapons”  Yeager ordered.

“Wait who died and made you leader?”  Kandor grunted.

“One, I am the only one with command experience.  Two, I am just  filling in until the real leader arrives”  Yeager said.

Mecca land was the most mountainous area of the entire world.  It had a ton of caves that many could get lost in.  Yeager suggested that Kaufman remain with the ship since the dangers.  She reluntically agreed.  Yeager reached the cave the on the map and noticed the carvings of a bow, a huge ring, a hammer, and a reaper.

“If I’m reading these symbols right there’s four weapons in there somewhere, but there’s only three of us.”  Yeager explained.

Kam-Re landed in front them.

“The knight has cleared their names, but he has been ordered to stay and take part in knightly duties, and yes you will need a team of four for this journey”  Kam-Re proclaimed.

“Ah, are you gonna be the fourth bird horse”  Kandor murmured.

“No, I had more him in mind for that”  Kam-Re pointed with his gold wings into the distance.

Kaufman's Fortunate chapter 2

The winds died down and the Fietra had to come to a stop until the wind picked up again.  Kaufman knew they were still a day away from Daghgrest however it was the nature of sailing.  She was at the mercy of the wind currents.  Kaufman looked over the water astern and saw a metallic shine.  “Another ship?” She said to herself.  She continued to watch the small object begin to get bigger and more in focus as it came her way.

“That can’t be a ship where is its sails”  Nan proclaimed.

Kaufman continued to watch the ship continuing to head their way.  She noticed the lack of sails as well but even if it had sails it wouldn’t been able to head in that direction.  The winds were gone so sails or not it shouldn’t been possible.  Kaufman began to hear a humming.  “Is that coming from the ship?”   She asked herself.

That’s when she saw it though.  Her heart sank as she saw the row of metal birds on the top of ship.  This ship was Duke’s, and that meant it was using some kind of technology that wasn’t supposed to exist.  She knew they were in great trouble.  Her greatest foe was bearing down on her proud ship and, without any wind they were as good as dead.  Suddenly in the corner of her eye though she saw a figure in the sky.  She thought for a moment it was a bird but, as the figure left the glare of the sun she saw the mane.

It was a large white horse.  The sheer size and the beautiful white frame were quite a sight but, that wasn’t what Kaufman was staring at.  She kept looking onward on the horse’s pair of golden wings which the horse began flapping quickly.  The Fietra’s sails began to fill with breeze from the winged horse’s flapping.  Kaufman took the wheel and steered them away from Duke.

Two hours of running away the wind died down again and, Kaufman walked across the deck.  She saw the huge winged horse.  It stared at her with its big silver eyes which made her think about her fallen friend Raven who had the same color.

“Lady Kaufman, I’m Kam-Re of the Entellica”  The Pegasus said.

“How did you know my name?”  She asked.

“My brothers and I have been made aware of what the human called Duke is doing, and we can’t let him destroy what we have sworn to protect.  I‘ll be watching over you”  Kam-re flew off into the glare of the sun.

Kaufman's Fortunate chapter 1

Sodia and Witcher continued to go through the files that had found several weeks ago.  Witcher noticed something strange with the next folder of files.

“The handwriting looks different in this folder”  The young aide handed  his commanding officer the folder.

Sodia gave him a glare that only she could.  She took delight as he shuddered in fear from her look.  She looked at the files and, she was surprised that the young man was correct.  The first writing was from someone that was clearly left handed.  She could tell because she noticed the ink blots caused by the hand being dragged through while the ink hadn’t completely dried.  Sodia saw the signature below one of the files.

Lady Kelly Kaufman


Kaufman and Leblanc left Zaude hanging their heads.  She was still in shock that Raven had fallen to his death.  She also knew though that the man responsible for killing the great archer was going to be trouble for the world.  She knew that if Raven was here he would say that  “We have to stop him, because it’s the right thing to do”  His words echoed in her head.  She also knew that she would need help to carry that wish out though/

She ordered the Fietra to head for Norpolico Stadium.  She hoped to find great warriors that fought and won in the games.  She would even pay for their services if that was what it took.  She and Leblanc was about to head over to Stadium when Natz saw them and ordered the guards to attack them.

“I forgot those idiots made us wanted too unfairly”  Kaufman said as they ran the other direction.

A guard tackled the petite redhead.  She tried to kick him off but he placed his blade against her throat.

“Enough of that Lady of Profit or I’ll make sure you never make any money again”  He threatened.

As the guard’s blade got ever closer and closer to her skin a metal star came flying in and knocked him backward.  Kaufman looked up and saw a girl.  The girl was dressed in a black and pink leather top and matching pants.  The girl picked up her big metal star and hoister it over her back,  She offered her hand and pulled up Kaufman.

The guards surrounded the trio and smirked as they believed they had the advantage.

“You two, stay low”  The girl pulled her big star.

She pulled the star back and swung it around three times before releasing it.  The star flew around in a circular motion becoming a saw blade that ripped through the guards’ armors.  The guards ran in fear as the star returned to her hand and she pulled it back as if she was going to throw it again.

“That’s right run you idiots!”  She shouted.

She began to walk off but, Kaufman grabbed her arm.

“Wait for a moment, I have an offer for you”  Kaufman proclaimed.

“You want to hire me for something don’t you Lady of Profit?”  She asked.

“Yes”  Kaufman replied and explained the situation.

“Well, count me in, oh forgive my manners, I’m Nan of the Hunting Blades”  Nan smiled as she accepted the offer.

“Your first member of your army, you doing well already Milady”  Leblanc said.

“Well what do you expect?  I know how to make a good investment”  Kaufman took the wheel of the Fietra.

Nan was a good first pick but, Kaufman knew that she would need more then just one warrior for this assignment.  She decided to head off to the Daghgrest next for more recruiting.  She knew they would have to be more careful for now on but, at least if Nan was a sign of things to come her army was going to be something special.