Returning home - Mountains of Minoc

[Kylathew]

Xander bit down on the reins, pushing his snow-white steed Atrax harder than he ever had to. Atrax was pleased with this, and galloped to the extent of his limit. Xander leant forward in his saddle, as Atrax's mane whipped him about his face. There was a war coming, and like it or not, he was now involved. He had to return home, and fast.

The White Harbor weighed heavily on his mind. Never before had he been so readily accepted and trusted. He had divulged information about himself that would frighten and ward off even the most vile of people. Still, they had respected him. He would do what he could to aid them.

As they hastily made their way down the well-travelled path, Xander heard a muffled scream come from the forest to his left. Atrax had heard it as well, and slowed down to an almost indiscernable canter. Xander patted his well-trained steed on the neck, and leapt off, darting into the night forest. As he crept from tree to tree, Xander withdrew a vial of coal-tinted liquid from his satchel, and quaffed it, placing the empty vial at his feet. His eyes seemed to brighten, taking on an ochre color as they brightened the darkness around him. He could see through the weathered oaks a few stones throws away, a young woman struggling to free herself from her binds. Two figures towered above her, silent as stone.
Xander crept closer still, his footsteps falling silent on the moss that seemed to blanket the ground. As he inched closer and closer to the two living towers, he quietly unsheathed his sword, letting the blade rest across his right shoulder as he approached the unaware party. Raising the slender falchion above his head with both hands, he brought it down, in a swift, yet silent motion towards the top of the first figure's skull.

*CLANG*

The blade ricocheted off the metallic head of the figure, as it turned only it's head around to meet Xander's confused gaze.

"A Golem..." Xander muttered to himself as he stepped back and repositioned his hands on his blade.

The golem kept it's glowing ember eyes locked on Xander, as the rest of it's body turned itself around to face the new threat.
The second golem also turned to meet Xander, but not before picking up the screaming woman from the ground and hurtling her against an old, grizzled oak tree. There was a slightly muted crunch, as her body shattered across the face of the tree, and fell to rest on the forest floor.

"Well, THAT was unneccesary." Grumbled Xander, as he charged the two grey monsters.

Xander sped towards the two golems, leaping into the air and planting both feet into the massive chest of the first creature. The golem did not budge an inch, as Xander crumpled against the steel torso of the giant. The golem grabbed Xander by the ankle, and swung him around his head, releasing him towards the same tree. As he was whistling through the air, his clothing catching hold on shrubs and bushes, Xander closed his eyes, focused, and whispered a few words to himself.

"An Ex Por"

He froze in mid-air, a hair's length from the tree. Concentrating with all that he had, he struggled to move his hand to drop a lavender-tinted potion at his feet.

*Boom*

The explosion caused by the volatile liquid released Xander from his spell and shot him upwards into the first low-hanging branch of the tree.
Swinging down from the tree and landing back on the earth, Xander realized that he was no match for the two steel guardians that were now advancing towards him. Reaching into his satchel and finding a small smooth stone with a peculiar looking glyph on it, he rubbed the stone with his thumb and closed his eyes, beginning to utter another enchantment to bring him far away from this death trap.

"Kal...Ort..."

He stopped.
Something commanded his attention behind him.
It was the girl, she was still alive. Her short, quick gasps of air and frothy red sputum leaking from the edge of her mouth suggested she had only moments left to live. Xander glanced back at the golems, who were trudging through the forest, swiping away trees with their hands like small blades of grass. He didn't have much time. He leant down to the girl, placing one hand on her chest and one on her stomach.

"In Vas Mani" spoke the crimson-clad tailor as the air around her shimmered and sparkled, raining down drops of life onto her body. As each glittering drop touched her flesh, the wounds seemed to reverse, twisting her body from the grotesque position she landed in back to her true form. She seemed to rise into the air as the blood disappeared from her mouth and her eyes flashed open. As the last few drops fell, Xander quickly wrapped a piece of cloth over the only remaining wound left, a laceration above her right eye. Working quickly, he whispered "Stay." in her ear, then spoke the words..

"An Lor Xen"

Touching the girl, she disappeared from sight.

His mind empty and drained, the young man arose once more, turning to face his enemies. There was no escape, he would have to face them, and perhaps die in the process.
A memory flashed into his mind.

- It was his younger brother, Jayce, smiling and laughing as Xander entertained him with his skills with an axe. He balanced the pommel of the battle axe handle on his palm, as he tossed it straight up, catching it by the handle, and swinging it in a wide arc, felling two large trees with the stroke. This was something he would do often, so that Jayce could turn the trees into his own work of art, bows.

Suddenly it came to him, this was no coincidence. He charged the creatures yet again. As they raised their fists to pummel him into the earth, Xander slid between the legs of the giant on the left. In one fluid motion, he unhasped the axe from his shoulder strap and brought it over his shoulder, the head of the axe burying itself into the dark, hard wood of the large Fir next to him. His skill had gone soft however, as the axe did not bite true. Several inches remained before the tree would fall, and Xander was now only armed with his sword.

The young tailor muttered to himself in frustration, as he righted himself from the ground yet again. Pulling another violet bottle from his satchel, this one a shade darker, he hurled it at the trunk of the Fir. There was a loud explosion, as a shower of splinters and bark blanketed his skullcap and shoulders. The Golem who he had slid under, turned back around, the metal on metal of his joints creaking and groaning. He took one step towards Xander, but it would be the last step it took. The giant Fir tree cascaded down from the night sky, crushing the iron monstrosity beneath it. Xander saw the golem's arm move once last time, as it made a fist, then the steel gauntlet relaxed, it's massive fingers pointing up into the heavens.

Xander grinned, but remembered his victory was only halfway complete as a giant stone whizzed past his head. The second golem lurched and shuffled it's body towards him, the fallen fir having completely removed the creature's right arm and bending it's right leg at the thigh. The golem lifted yet another giant rock from the earth with it's left hand and again hurled it at Xander. He ducked this time, as it flew over his head, disappearing into the darkness. Re-sheathing his falchion back into his belt, he withdrew a tattered scroll from his pack, quickly scraping off the wax seal and unfurling it in front of him. He concentrated, and quickly read the words that were written in the scroll. The letters and glyphs on the scroll began to glow and burn, the parchment vaporizing into ashes from within his hands.

"So you want to throw rocks eh ?"

Xander chuckled to himself as the night sky opened up, releasing a storm of glowing boulders down upon the hapless golem. The first one knocked him to the ground, as the second and third caved in his chest, then his head. The meteors continued to rain down on the steel titan until all there was left was a crater in the ground and one lone shard of iron poking up from the earth like the style from a giant sundial.

Taking a deep, well-deserved breath, Xander retrieved his axe from the stump of the fallen fir, and re-fastened it back onto the holster on the rear of his shoulder. Whistling in the tune of a sparrow, Xander called Atrax. The horse appeared almost instantly from the darkness, neighing and trotting up to the tailor happily. Brushing off the splinters and bark from his clothing, he hopped up onto the horse's back, turning the reins towards home.

"Damn", uttered Xander as he remembered the girl who he had saved. He dismounted Atrax once again, and made his way towards the tree where she lay, the outline of her body still pressed into the earth. Reaching into the void, he found her arms, sliding his hands underneath her, she re-appeared as he lifted her from the forest floor. She did not utter a word, nor a scream, as he smiled at her, the moon reflecting off his long, curved eyeteeth. He quickly pursed his lips, not wanting to scare the girl. He sat her astride Atrax, and was about to re-mount himself when a sizzle of energy struck him from behind, knocking him against Atrax and felling him to the ground.

Atrax, HOME! Xander exclaimed as he picked himself back up off the earth to face this new enemy. Atrax hesitated for a moment, then galloped off with the girl, leaving Xander to his fate.

As soon as he had turned around, another bolt of energy collided into his chest, knocking him backwards. An explosion rocked his body, tumbling him about on the mossy earth, singing off swatches of his shirt. A bolt of white-hot lightning erupted from the sky, connecting with his fallen body and making him twitch and convulse as the electricity coursed through his body. A pillar of flame erupted from the earth in front of the young tailor and sped towards him...

Then the world went black.

[Jupiter]

*archived*

The Mage Tower Archives

[shonnie53]

Xandy has vow to search until he is found. This is one soul that she might can save or die trying to save him. She begins her search in the dungeons.