Hello, I have decided to post a story that I wrote a while back. It wasn't quite finished, so I'll start writing it again. Enough of all those stories of heros and their adventures throughout the lands. Enough of the special, magical powers and enchanted weapons, let's explore the life of a regular footsoldier for once. No powers, no prophecies, none of that mumbo-jumbo. It was a rainy morning in the city of Ragis when a loud banging on the door of Jacks house woke him from his sleep. Startled, Jack fell from his cot to the floor. "Urgh, I'm coming!" Jack yelled as he climbed into his clothes. Before we get too far into the story, let me tell you a little bit about Jack. Jack lives all alone with his dog, Beaver, in a small house on the outskirts of the city. He is an average man, white, brown hair, six foot, two inches tall, and is fairly skinny. His dog is a golden retriever. Jack stumbled through the house while trying to slip on his shirt. Once at the door, he straightened himself out and opened it. "Are you Jack?" asked the man. "Uh, yeah. Who's asking?" replied Jack. "Well son, today's your lucky day! I am Taylor, one of the king's knights and you, apparently, are the chosen one! I am to take you to the king immediately!" "What, really? I'll get my things!" Jack slammed the door and darted through the room and tripped over Beaver. He stumbled back up and grabbed a bag and started to stuff it with clothes and food. He ran back to the door, tripping over Beaver again, and opened the door. "Okay I'm ready!" Jack panted. "Good! Now just follow me and I brought you your own horse to ride." Taylor motioned to to one of the two horses near the road. They walked over to the horses and Taylor jumped right onto the horse while Jack just stood there looking at it. "Need some help there, lad?" asked Taylor. "No no, I can do it," Jack said as he rubbed his chin. Jack awkwardly tried swinging his leg over the back of the horse. The horse whinnied and shook it's head as Jack slowly but surely mounted the horse. "Ah, there we go," said Jack once he was finally in the saddle. "Ready?" "As ready as I can be," Taylor led his horse onto the road... Jack and Taylor made their way through the city. Jack had some problems with riding the horse at first, but eventually he got the hang of it. They passed many houses and shops and Jack mentioned to Taylor about entering one of the bakeries for breakfast. "No time for breakfast, Jack, we need to get to the castle as soon as possible" As they got near the center of the town more and more merchants called out their wares and goods. More than once Jack almost bought something, only to be stopped by Taylor. Once they got out of the center of town, Taylor pointed out the castle of Tinsfole. "That, my friend, is Tinsfole," said Taylor while pointing at the castle, "it watches over the whole city of Ragis." "Woah, it's huge!" exclaimed Jack. "Well get used to it, because you're going to be here for a while," replied Taylor. "What do you mean?" asked Jack "Well, since you're the chosen one, we're going to need you in the castle to train you, since you obviously haven't had any." "Will I ever get to see my dog again?" Jack prodded "Probably not." "Why not?" "Because you will be training and you won't need your dog in training." "But I want to see my dog!" "I can't-" "I want to see my dog!!!" "Okay! Okay! I'll have your dog brought to the castle." Taylor motioned to the guards and they opened the gate. Jack and Taylor dismounted and walked into the courtyard where multiple warriors were swinging at straw dummies. Shrubbery decorated the endless courtyard and a giant flight of stairs led up to the main entrance of the castle. "So here we are, just walk up these steps and a guard will escort you to the throne room where the king will speak to you," stated Taylor. "Um, I have a kind of awkward question to ask you," said Jack. "What's the king's name?" "You don't know the king's name?" exclaimed Taylor. "Are you an idiot?" "I don't think that's the way you should talk to the chosen one, is it?" replied Jack with a grin. "Bah! I would have thought that the "chosen" one would have known the king's name." grumbled Taylor. "It's Langus Black." After a long flight of stairs climbed, Jack, panting, opened the doors, and found himself in a hallway that forked in two directions. There were multiple plants and pottery lining the hallway. "Here, this way," a guard appeared seemingly out of nowhere and led Jack through a door. Jack gasped once he saw the throne room. Blue banners, with some manner of beast on them, lined the stone walls. Statues of gods and warriors were lined next to a blue carpet that let up to the throne. The throne was made of stone, sapphire, and gold, that towered at least six feet tall. "Welcome to my castle Jack. I was told that you had-" the king stopped mid-sentence and took a long look at Jack. "This is not Jack! This is just some peasant! Who is responsible for this?" "But I am Jack! Who else named Jack is there that you're looking for?" he replied. "I am looking for a warrior! I am looking for the chosen one! I am looking for Jack Silverson!" the king exclaimed. "Guards, take this imposter away!" Jack sighed. I knew it was too good to be true, he thought. I should've just stayed home, but now I'm stuck in a prison cell. The cell consisted of a straw bed and a small bench that was chained to the cold, stone wall. Jack stood and banged his head awkwardly on the ceiling. Rubbing his head, he tried to peer out of the small window of the door. In the blackness of the hallway he could make out a few other cell doors. Jack eyed over them and nearly jumped out of his skin as he saw a pair of eyes staring back at him. "Um, hello?" Jack called across the hall. "Shut up," a voice replied. "they're coming." The jingling of keys and rhythm of footsteps echoed from down the hall. Jack moved his head to the side of the door to get a better look, but to his frustration, he still couldn't see anything. The walls brightened to reveal a cluster of guards with torches approaching. They moved from cell to cell, checking in on the inmates. Finally, they moved to Jack's. Jack was knocked to the floor by the swinging of the door. "What are you doing Jack?" one of the guards in a helmet said. He removed his helmet revealing Taylor, smoothed back, blonde hair and all.
"Looks like you have a pretty nice setup here," said Taylor. "A bench... A bedpan..." "Can you just get me out of here?" Jack whined. "It smells like dead rats" "Yeah, yeah, just give me a second." he replied. "Guards! Release him." A suit of armor approached the door. A jingling sounded outside and then the cell opened. The guard grabbed Jack's arm and pulled him out. "Come," said Taylor. "Let me show you to your new quarters Jack was led down a dark, winding hall to a wooden gate. "Stand back," said one of the guards. He inserted a key into the it and rumbling, the gate creaked outwards. As the guards shuffled through, a repetition of footsteps came from down the hall. Jack's eyes widened as he turned to see a hooded figure running, blades flashing in it's hands, towards him. "Uh, guys?" murmured Jack. "What is it Jack," Taylor sighed as he turned towards him. "Oh, I see." He drew his sword and darted to meet the hooded figure. The assassin arched back it's arm and threw a knife towards Taylor. He raised his sword and deflected it perfectly. Sliding to the floor, the assassin cut at his legs. Taylor jump and slashed downwards. Jack gasped as blood slashed onto Taylor's legs. The guards ran up to him: "What the hell was that?", "Are you alright?", "Where'd you learn to fight like that?" "Um, Taylor?" Jack stammered. "Where did that guy go?" "What the- he's gone!" exclaimed Taylor.
"Well, here's your quarters," Said Taylor, still confused from earlier. "When you get a chance, meet me in the dining hall." Jack and Taylor, after a while of investigating, departed the dungeons and went to the barracks. "This is where you will be staying, Jack," said Taylor with hands on his hips. "Since you are not the chosen one, you will be trained in the art of war, and once you are fully developed you will be put into the army." "But, why can't I just go home?" Jack whimpered. "You made the King quite angry when he found out that you weren't the chosen one, so I got punished," said Taylor. "I made sure that you stayed to go through boot camp." "What's so bad about boot camp?" "Oh, you'll see, you'll see," Taylor grinned. Jack laid back on his bed with a sigh. He felt like he hadn't laid on a soft bed in ages (even though it had only been a few days). His room was pretty simple: a reclining chair in the corner, a small bed, a desk with a mirror hanging above it, and a closet. Jack's eyes started to droop and slowly, he fell asleep.
Banging was the main thing that woke Jack, but many other things accounted to it: the birds outside chirping, the fly buzzing in his face, the cat rubbing against his legs... Taylor! He had forgotten to meet Taylor! Jack jumped up from the bed and ran to the door. He hurriedly pulled the open and was punched in the nose by Taylor, who was about to bang on the door. Jack fell back, cupping his nose. "Jack! Are you alright?" Taylor exclaimed. "Uh huh," Jack replied in a muffled voice. "Just bleeding a little." Jack pulled his hands away from his face. "Or a lot." "Here, let me get you something to clean you up with." Taylor pushed past Jack and rummaged through some draws and brought out a towel. "Oh look, the stars are out." Jack took the towel and placed it to his face. "Why didn't you answer the door?" said Taylor. "I was standing out there for ages!" "I dunno, I was sleeping," he replied. "Well anyways, we need to talk. First off, why didn't you meet me in the dining hall? I was waiting for ages there too!" exclaimed Taylor. "Like I said before, I was sleeping!" "Ugh, you know you are really annoying? Anyways, about earlier, with the assassin? Did you happen to notice anything strange about him?" questioned Taylor. "No... Well, except it looked like when he stepped in any where that light, it got darker, but that's it." "No! Quick, we must tell the king!" Taylor grabbed Jack's arm and dragged him out of the door. Red, fiery eyes peered out from the shadows. They slowly drew out to reveal a small, dark skinned child in black robes. The child's chest heaved as it broke out into laughter. It's form began to change; shoulders grew larger with spikes piercing through the robes, the legs grew longer, toes ripped through the front of the small shoes of the child revealing sharp, green nails, the slender face of the child grew larger and three sharp horns protruded from the forehead, and the dark robes were absorbed into by the green scaly skin of the child. A monster stood in wait for the orders of it's master...
Taylor busted in through the doors of the throne room with Jack stumbling behind. "Your majesty, we have important news!" exclaimed Taylor. "It's about the Deboli kingdom." "The Deboli's? What about them?" the King asked. "You remember earlier right? About the assassin?" asked Taylor. "I think that... It was a demon." "A demon?" the king exclaimed. "Summoning has been a dead art for ages! What makes you think that it was a demon?" "When I killed it, it disappeared, and, as Jack here kindly pointed out, the shadows followed it wherever it went," stated Taylor. "If you ask me, all of those traits scream demon. "I also heard that somewhere in the Deboli kingdom, a book of summoning still exists," he said. "I believe someone found it and is now summoning demons." "Why am I the only one who has no idea what you two are talking about?" asked Jack. "You don't know what demons are?" said Taylor, chuckling. "I knew you were stupid, but not that stupid. Demons are vicious shape shifters that exist in an ethereal plane between universes. They were discovered by a race that lived on this planet, long ago that had magical powers. They bound these demons with words, allowing them to be summoned without using every ounce of energy in their bodies. "Centuries later, after the magical race had gone extinct, humans found tomes in ancient ruins that were written in alien text, similar to our languages. They decoded them and found the secret to summoning," Taylor finished. "I can't have summoners threatening my kingdom; Taylor, take Jack and find this summoner," declared the King. "Go to Deboli and bring me the bastārd's head!"
Bump. Sorry for the lack of posts. I've been very lazy lately, but I think I'll add a new part tomorrow