Stormborn

Chapter 1: Land of the Gods

Roana remained quiet, staring down at the ground.

The Queen smirked, "What you did, is punishable by death, but because we were friends since we were oh so young, I'm giving you a chance to make up for it."

Roana finally looked up into the Queen's eyes, giving her all the attention.

"This time, you're gonna kill her, and I want you to bring back her head and only her head for me to see when you return to Stormborn."

Roana gripped the chair arms tightly while biting onto her lips before saying, "Yes my Queen.... Your wish is my command."

Roana got up, took up her sword and her hat, then head to the door.

Upon opening the door, the Queen called to her, "Oh and, it's been five years. If she has any family whatsoever, dispose of them as well."

As her eyes watered, Roana nodded and left the room.

Upon her exit, the Queen tapped the wine in one of the two glasses, causing an image of a fairly handsome man, wearing a white and gold uniform to appear in it.

"Daniel," she called.

"Yes my highness?" He replied while turning his attention to the screen before him.

"I want you to keep an eye on Roana for me, and if she leaves the capital at all, I want you to kill her, without hesitation, got that?"

Daniel nod his head then asked, "But, why don't you use your magic to watch her?"

"I can't because if I do use magic, she will be able to sense my presence, and I wouldn't want that."

"Okay your grace," Daniel said as his image disappeared from the wine, leaving the Queen with a smirk on her face.

~•~

The sun was beginning to set as the young traveler came to a stop.

Before him was a cliff that there was no way around. Sighing and drinking the last of the water he acquired from a river fourteen nights away he said, "I guess this really is where the world ends."

He looked up at the sky and before he knew it, he was thinking of the last day he had spent with his family.

The sky was green, an unusual colour in winter.

He was around fifteen when it all happened. He remembered being in the gold mine, taking over for his father who was sick on that day. The other miners were distasteful about the fact that they sent a "boy" to work in the mines, but he didn't mind, because he was doing better than most of the men there.

After a day's hard work he dried the sweat off his forehead and head home. The closer he was to his beloved home, the more audible the screams were.

"THOMAS!" he heard his mother called.

Frightened, he dashed over to his house and hid between the wall and the drawers.

Before him, his mother was crying as two Stormborn soldiers stood over her, one had a sword held to her neck.

They pulled on her hair and pushed the sword onto her skin, making it open up, slowly dripping blood, "CALL LOUDER!" One yelled.

Thomas gripped onto the drawer, ready to pull himself up, but before he could, his mother spotted him and shook her head, signalling for him to keep still.

They continued to provoke her, but she refused to call for her son any longer.
Seeing that she was of no use anymore, they cut her head clean off and left the room.

After seeing his mother executed before him, he jumped out if hiding and tackled one of the two soldiers.

The other one decided to attack, but before he could, Thomas rolled over, letting the sword drive through the other soldier's heart.

Thomas then kicked the body onto the soldier, taking the sword out his grasp and stabbing him in the back, leaving both soldiers dead.

It's been four years since that day, and ever since, he's been traveling from village to village.

In every village he went in, he heard the legends of the "Land of the Gods".

Up till three months earlier, he wasn't interested in it at all, but then he heard the rumor of the Keystone Gem, being guarded on that land.

Legend has it that the gem gives it's wearer mystical powers that it has acquired over the thousands of years that it has been protected, and that's exactly what he's after.

Thomas got off the desert ground and threw his bag off the cliff, but instead of seeing it fall, it disappeared.

Thomas stared in that direction as a crazy idea built in his head, an idea that he was willing to bet his life on.

He took a few steps back then ran straight up to the edge of the cliff and he was gone.

On the other side, it was dark. Everything was in ruins and the ground seemed to be made out of coal.

"Is... This the land of Gods?" Thomas asked himself.

"What do you want here human?" Said a voice echoing from off all the broken buildings.

"I'm here to receive the Keystone Gem," Thomas said.

The voice laughed as it's source walked casually over the pile of rubble, "It's best you turn around and head home. You won't be able to retrieve that."

The man that stood before Thomas had white hair that sent off a radiating glow in the darkness. He also wore a robe that half covered his chest as he began to float above the ground.

"And who are you to tell me that?" Thomas asked.

"Ugh humans are so ill mannered nowadays. My name is Argan, the demigod. The last of my kind," he said as a white flame formed on his hand, "And as I said, it's best you leave."