Siral’s Destiny

A swordsman who’s mastered a dark style of fighting.

A kid mage who studied only the blackest magic.

A suicidal, nature-hating, immortal elf.

An assassin who is actually evil.

And a girl who’s more then she appears and definitely not good.

Their goal is not to save the world. It’s to find the heir of the Dark Archmage, get more power, and do whatever the heck they want.

Mommy, are you sure these guys are heroes?

Warnings: Probable blood, possible nudity, guaranteed corny jokes, guaranteed insulting of Heroes, guaranteed mass destruction, possible cursing (of the insulting variety; magical curses are probable). Absolutely guaranteed death of Random Innocent Bystanders.

000

In the five hundred years following the destruction of the Archmage Council, sorcerers, mages, wizards, and necromancers of both the light and the dark fought for supremacy over the world.

The bloodshed did not come to a halt until the only dark Archmage in history gathered together over ten thousand weaker magic users and took over the entire planet in the single bloodiest week the world had ever seen.

His reign was short-lived, however, as the gods themselves came down from their celestial home to seal him away. The battle fought then was the very climax of the War of Erkai, as it would later be called. Mountain ranges were raised and turned to dust, oceans boiled away and filled again, and creatures never seen before or since walked the world to do battle. However, inevitably, the gods overwhelmed the forces of darkness. But they knew that they couldn’t ever completely kill their foe, so they did the only other thing they could. As the dark Archmage was being sealed forever, he called out to the gods.

“You may be able to seal me away, but my power is already gone! I have sent it out into the world, and in time it will choose a new host, and that child shall become the greatest warrior you will ever see! The kid shall change the world!”

The gods laughed, knowing that such a thing could never happen, as the dark Archmage’s eternal cell was sealed shut by the sheer strength of their power. They returned to their home after appointing a noble warrior to help the world rebuild, and settled down to watch.

In these enlightened days, of course, nobody believes in the legend of the War of Erkai. Few people even believe in the gods themselves.

000

Chapter One

“Hey, did you hear?” a man asked. I looked up from my drink to gaze at a group of men who were huddled around table. The bar we were in was a grimy, dirty sort of place, the sort only locals usually enjoy. I was underage, naturally, but this pub was far enough from the main roads that the bartender didn’t care who bought drinks.

The fact that the town was run by a necromancer of the evil variety didn’t hurt, either. It was a bit weird when a skeleton came in, but that was the price you paid for living in a dump like this place.

My name is Siral. That’s it, no last name. I am… not what you would call a people person. As a matter of fact, I’m only writing this account at the insistence of one of the few people I have ever liked enough to call my friend. Regardless, I was paying careful attention to the men at the table near mine. Fat, drunk men like them were often sources of excellent, if occasionally inaccurate, information.

“I heard that the big boss is really scared. Apparently enough rumors have been going around about some incredibly powerful dark magic user. Some even say he’s the heir to the Black Archmage Erkai himself.” The man said in what was probably supposed to be a hushed whisper. I raised an eyebrow, mildly interested.

“Don’t tell me you actually believe that old fairy tale! Even if that guy did exist, he couldn’t have passed on that sort of power!” another man argued.

“Hey, that’s just what the rumors are saying, not me! But the Palace thinks that if he does exist, he’ll move against them soon, so they’re tightening security. Especially around the Princess.”

“I saw her once.” A third man said, grinning wolfishly. I immediately felt a strong dislike for him. “Great body. I really wouldn’t mind getting her away from the guards so I could—“ I was saved the trouble of interrupting them by a man from a nearby table, who had slugged the guy in the jaw. “Aaugh! What the hell was that for!?”

The new man was tall, and looked suspiciously like a Hero. I sent a glare his way. Heroes were always so… noble. It was a bit disgusting every now and then.

“You shouldn’t speak of royalty so callously!” the Hero snapped. He and the men began arguing. I sighed, flicked the bartender a few coins, and made my way out of the door.

The street outside was what one would expect; dirty and out of the way. I picked my way through piles of what looked to be rotting slime (how that was possible, I didn’t ask) and emerged onto the main street of the town. Every so often, there was a spot about ten feet wide in a circular manner where nobody walked. These were invariably spots where skeletons were keeping watch.

The boss of the town may have been a slimy git, but he did run an efficient organization. I smiled thinly and began heading towards the gates of the town. I’d had enough of this place, and it was time to move on.

So, naturally, I should have expected a group of skeletons to rise up and block my path. The fact that I didn’t and consequently spent a little extra time in the town was a testament to my laziness.

“Listen up, boneheads.” I said, glaring at the corpses that barred the exit. “I am leaving this town, and I am leaving it now.”

There was no response. I sighed, held up a hand, then quickly lowered it. There was no sense in giving myself away just yet. Besides, another Hero was coming along.

That was convenient.

“Hey! Let me out of town!” I yelled, loudly enough that the Hero couldn’t help but notice I was there. I smiled grimly and began hitting the corpses with my fists. In moments, the do-gooder unsheathed his sword and hacked the bodies to pieces. “Hey, thanks.”

“No problem.” The Hero said, grinning like a maniac as he walked off. I shrugged.

Heroes usually liked cute 16-year-old girls like me. But then again, if I’d flirted with him, he might have actually believed I was serious about liking him. And that would be no end of trouble; Heroes were notorious among the barmaids of the world (who really do have a secret underground network of contacts, by the way, and I’ve got access to it) for either being so thick they wouldn’t notice a girl’s advances until she stripped for him and declared that she wanted to bear his children or for being so shallow they’d take even the smallest hint of being liked as an excuse for thoughts about getting laid, and consequently would try to get said girl alone over and over.

It was a little depressing, but I was used to it. I tried not to encourage the lugs more then I had to; my life was chaotic enough without worrying about stupid men.

I shook my head rapidly and hurried out of the town before any further problems could arise. Several minutes of walking later, I began to wish I had a horse. It was troublesome to walk from place to place, and the road was kind of dusty. Not to mention so hard that it hurt a bit to walk on.

And… yeah, you guessed it. No sooner did I wish for a horse then a wagon with a whole team of Heroes appeared.

That made me nervous. There were an unusually high number of the freaks wandering around this town. They usually paid little attention to small fry like the town’s leader, but I’d seen a few who were serious adventurers and would be trouble even for elite military units hanging around.

As I’d been thinking, the group of Heroes came closer. I noticed, with several different degrees of interest, that besides the three males there was one female, and she was gagged. I grinned viciously.

I didn’t like Heroes, but these ones didn’t look completely like the annoying I’ll-save-the-world-and-rescue-my-love kind, so I could give them a chance. Besides, their ride looked pretty comfortable when I compared it to the road. The only issue was that since they were heading into town, not away from it, I’d have to go back in for a bit.

I shrugged. That seemed to be a fair price. Now I just needed to decide what sort of stunt to pull to get them to let me go with them…

“Excuse us, Miss.”

I looked up sharply and mentally cursed. The blasted Heroes were already here. Of course, I kept my face as innocent as I could.

“Yes?” I asked politely.

“Is the Necromancer Kal still in charge of this town?” the leader of the small group asked.

“Yes.” I replied, blinking sweetly at him. He didn’t respond, which confirmed that when it came to women, he was a very thick man indeed. So maybe I’m not a supermodel or a princess, but I am cute, if I do say so myself. At least, I’m cute when I want to be cute. The Hero slowly nodded and got down from his horse, lowering his voice.

What a drama queen—er, I mean, king. There was nobody besides his friends in earshot unless he was screaming at the top of his lungs. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, throw up, or do both.

“We’re looking to get an audience with him, preferably one ending with his body no longer moving.” The Hero explained quietly. I nodded. “Do you think you could show us around?”

“It’ll cost you.” I promptly replied. The hero held up a sack of gold. As tempted as I was to take it, I shook my head. I could always grab it when I left them anyways. “I don’t need gold. I want you to bring me with you. I’m not going anywhere in particular, so it’ll be fun. Besides, you Heroes could probably use a girl to talk to seeing as the other one you’re with seems…” I looked over to the girl in the wagon. “…to be rather indisposed.”

The Hero laughed and nodded, his voice coming back up to normal volume.

“That sounds like a fair trade. Perhaps you can talk some sense into her. Welcome to our wagon, Lady…”

“It’s just Siral.” I said firmly. “Call me a lady again and I’ll give you a gender change with my foot.” He winced slightly and nodded. When I make threats, people tend to believe I’ll follow through on them. This may have something to do with the fact that I invariably do, but…

“Siral.” The hero confirmed, interrupting my thoughts again. “I’m Lucius.” I nodded, placated, and climbed into the wagon.

As I had expected, it was fairly comfortable. There was a cloth dome overhead that was definitely magic; it could become either transparent or opaque, which explained how I could see into the wagon in the first place. A few cushions were scattered about, and a rich rug decorated the floor.

The aforementioned girl was not only gagged but had her hands tied to her feet and her chest tied to the wall. I wondered what she had done to deserve the kind of treatment she was getting, then looked at the other two men.

Somehow, I wasn’t surprised by what I saw. One was a kid who looked like a mage (he was probably a lot stronger then he appeared to be), and the other was an Elven archer. I raised an eyebrow. Elves hated humans. Maybe this band of Heroes really was normal after all.

The group leader smoothly mounted his horse and we began moving along again.

“The kid’s name is Rashel.” He said, glancing back at us. The mage raised a hand and waved a bit, looking miserable. “And our Elven friend is Lokar Hartal.” I whistled, now interested in the elf.

“Are you telling me that there’s really an Elf out there who’s last name doesn’t involve plants?” I asked.

“Yeah, that about sums it up.” Lucius said, smirking. “Everybody, this is Siral.” The girl who was bound and gagged said something incomprehensible. “Oh, right. That’s Elliel. She and Rashel are, ah, family…”

“But she tried to kill us.” Rashel finished gloomily. I looked at the girl, impressed despite myself. There was actually somebody here I could get to like. We passed through the gates of the city a moment later, and I began giving driving instructions.

After another ten minutes or so, Lucius’ little group pulled to a stop in front of the Necromancer Kal’s mansion. The place was admirably creepy; it had been constructed out of dead bodies that didn’t decay because magic supported them. Nor did it smell. But it was kind of fun to watch the bodies move, assuming you were properly disturbed like me.

“I’ll stay here.” I elected. “Kal’s a pervert, so…” the Heroes nodded and hopped out of our transport. That was easy. After a moment, I removed Elliel’s gag and looked her squarely in the eyes. “Okay. Listen, you. Unlike those Heroes, I don’t care what you do as long as it doesn’t hurt me. And since you’re not exactly in a favorable position, I’ll feed you if you tell me about those three. Anything I can use.”

“Deal.” The girl said. I opened my pack, pulled out a piece of fruit, and fed it to her. The girl devoured it. “Those three are so not a typical band of Heroes. I mean, sure, there’s the Swordsman Leader, the Kid Mage, and the Elf Archer, but that’s as far as they go for being normal. Lucius is a master of the Dark Arc style of swordsmanship. He is really dangerous. He’s also a bit of a womanizer, but doesn’t get it when a girl hits on him instead of the other way around, and he eats even more then my brother.” It took me a moment to remember that she meant Rashel. Elliel looked expectantly at me.

I fed her some more food. “Okay. And the other two?”

“The Elf’s probably the oddest of the lot. You know how Elves are always all into nature and growing plants and stuff?” Elliel asked. I nodded. I knew, all right. Everybody did. It was a fact of life that elves absolutely adored nature, to the point it was sickening. “Well, he was exiled from the Elven lands because he burned down one of their sacred forests.” I choked. “Yeah, I was like that too. They figured death wasn’t a bad enough punishment, so they cursed him with immortality and the impulsive desire to fight. He’s over ten thousand years old, and funnily enough, still hasn’t gotten laid. He’s a nature-hating, suicidal elf.” I laughed.

I whistled happily as I fed Elliel more food, glad I had found such a nice source of information. “So what’s with the kid?”

“Rashel’s a mage, but not your typical kid-turned-genius that Hero groups usually have.” Elliel explained. She paused to take a drink of juice. “Dang that stuff is good. Anyways, he specializes in forbidden and archaic magic. Not just the good type, either, he can do magic that’s about as black as it gets. He’s one of only about three people in this world that are at Archmage level but not formally instated.” Elliel finished her meal. “Whew…”

“And you?” I prompted.

“Me? Oh, that’s easy enough. I tried to kill those three because I was doing some assassination work, and they were being guards. They caught me and brought me with them.” The girl said, shrugging. I nodded, satisfied, and re-gagged the girl. “Mmm mm mmmm?”

I pointed outside. The Heroes were emerging from the mansion, grinning. Apparently, their little meeting had gone just as they liked. Scarcely thirty seconds later, we were driving away.

“So, where to now?” I asked, going over to sit by Rashel. The boy just sighed heavily. I thought quickly. The kid was at a very impressionable age, so if I could get his loyalty, I’d probably have it for a very long time. I winked at Elliel as I did so, and saw a smile flit across her face.

I put an arm around Rashel’s shoulders in a chummy sort of way (eew…) and smiled nicely at him. The kid finally responded, lifting his head to look at me.

“Come on.” I said brightly. “No group gets this large without a bigger purpose in mind then just a wimpy little necromancer. What are you guys trying to do?”

“We’re, uh…” Rashel blushed. I smiled inwardly. My cuteness was starting to affect him. “We’re looking for the heir of the Black Archmage.” That got my attention. “Y’see, we’ve heard that while he may be evil, he’s also extremely powerful. We want to learn from him before we kill him. Lucius wants to improve his swordsmanship. Lokar’s looking for death. And I want to learn magic that’s even stronger then what I have now.” I thought for a moment, then fished around in my pack.

“Well, I’ve done a bit of thieving from people who deserve it, and I got this from Kal’s library.” I said, pulling out a book. Rashel obviously recognized it, judging from the way he sat up and stared at it. I smiled slightly. He knew his books, all right. “It’s called Erkai’s Lament, and I think it’s a book of powerful spells.” I handed it to Rashel, who was on the verge of freaking out. It was most amusing to watch.

“Y-you’re giving me something so valuable?” the boy croaked out. I nodded and gave him a sisterly hug, trying not to barf. This was disgusting. But at least it proved that I could act pretty well.

Rashel blushed as my chest squished a bit against him. He probably didn’t even have a girlfriend, much less one who would let him get closer then two feet. This was going to be even easier then I thought.

“Why not?” I asked. “You look like you could really use that book, since I’m pretty sure it has some awesome spells.” I let go of him. “Let’s see… I flipped through it kind of quickly, so I didn’t really see what was in it, but there was one in there called Nova Flare…” Rashel fainted.

Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Elliel silently laughing. The Nova Flare spell was the single most powerful destructive spell on the planet, and only one man had ever cast it. That was its creator, the Black Archmage himself. And the one time it had been used, it brought the gods themselves to their knees.

I wasn’t particularly troubled about putting Erkai’s Lament into Rashel’s hands. Not only was that an incomplete copy that left out the Five Sacred Spells Erkai had also made, but I was rather hoping that the boy would actually use the spells inside of it. Nothing like summoning demon princes to make a world turn evil, after all.

A moment later, the elf finally spoke up.

“Lucius. Incoming.” He said quietly. Lucius pulled the horse to a halt just as a spear thudded into the ground in front of us, sticking upright in the cobbles of the street. A band of punks came out of the shadows and looked at us.

They looked like a typical town’s street gang; crude armor and weapons, lots of buddies, and a lack of any real sort of intelligence.

“Well... Well well well…” their leader drawled, sauntering over to us. “This is a pleasant surprise. A half-elf chick and a full elf chick.” I nearly jumped out of my skin. How could he tell that I was an elf so quickly!? My ears were hidden, weren’t they? “Tell ya what, man.” He said, looking up at Lucius. “Let’s make a deal, huh? You leave the wenches with us so we can have a bit o’ fun, and we’ll give you something really valuable in return.”

“Like what?” Lucius asked, smirking.

“Oh, I dunno. Your lives?” the punk asked. I glared at him. “See, it’s been awhile since my boys got some girls for themselves, so-“ I heard the sound of an arrow being drawn and pointed at the boy. Lokar was ready to fight.

I smirked. You could always count on Heroes to protect the women and children, even if said Heroes weren’t exactly the purest people around. With that in mind, I watched as Lokar and Lucius made short work of the thugs. It wasn’t long at all before we were on our way again. Rashel finally regained consciousness, and immediately blushed in embarrassment.

“Ah, you’ve awoken.” I said, smiling at him. “I’m surprised you were brave enough to take a nap instead of studying. Maybe you’re not a normal mage after all.” The boy blushed again. I had to stop there, because any more sweetness and I’d be hurling over the edge of my transport, and that wasn’t something I wanted to do.

After a few moments of searching, I found a blanket and pillows, put them on the floor, and closed the back of our wagon. I then crawled under the blanket to take a little nap of my own. I was tired, after all, and this vehicle was really comfortable.

The last thing I saw as I drifted off into blissful sleep was Rashel pouring over his new magic tome, studying spells of such ferocity and raw power that even the Archmage’s of the world could be brought to their knees by. I smiled. With any luck, the kid would blow up a city.

I awoke towards dinnertime, sat up, and looked around. Dark clouds covered the sky, and bolts of red lightning kept shooting down to strike things.

“And Erkai says this is only a puny spell for apprentices?” Rashel breathed out. I smirked. He hadn’t been able to resist the power of that book. No mage could. The little brat stroked the book reverently and waved a hand, allowing the magic to dissipate. The sky cleared instantly.

“Hey, Rashel? No more big spells until we’re a long ways away from a city.” Lucius said firmly. The kid nodded and began looking for a spell that had a smaller range. Despite myself, I was impressed by his abilities. He’d make an excellent High Priest for somebody someday.

It was a well known fact that to cast a spell, you needed power. The number of spells you could cast was directly proportionate to the raw power you had; apprentices could only do one or two spells at first, while Archmage’s could cast an almost infinite number.

This kid had a lot of power if he was using magic from Erkai’s Lament. He really was at Archmage level, and that was a deed worthy of respect. No matter how strong of a magic user you were, you respected the power, dedication, and training it took to become that powerful. People were like that.

“Siral?” Rashel asked. I looked up at the kid, putting on the most sickeningly sweet smile I could. “Um… W-where are you going? Why are you traveling with us, I mean.”

“Me?” I asked, blinking innocently at him. “I’m not going anywhere in particular; I’m just kind of wandering around. You guys looked interesting, so I thought going with you would be fun.” The kid nodded and buried his nose in Erkai’s Lament again, probably just to hide his face. I looked over at Elliel, and got an idea. “Her name’s… Ellili, right?” I asked, deliberately getting her name wrong.

“Elliel.” Lucius corrected. I nodded quietly and looked at her, putting on a look of pity. She made gagging motions.

“You said that she tried to kill you while you were guards, but there isn’t any more reason for her to kill you, so why don’t you set her free?” I asked. All three of the men were silent for a long moment, before Lucius shrugged.

“Sure, why not? Free her.” He said. I immediately did so, pretending to fumble with the knots that I was really undoing with ease. After about a minute, Elliel slipped out of her bonds, pulled her gag away from her mouth, and took a deep breath.

Then, pretending she had ‘seen the error of her ways’, the girl went over and hugged her brother. The boy awkwardly returned it.

“Thanks for not killing me.” She said, squeezing even tighter. I yawned and stared out of our vehicle. The landscape outside was, well… bland. Nothing really interesting about it. I sighed and returned my attention to the inside of our vehicle. Elliel and Rashel were talking quietly about something. Lokar was… I blinked. He was trying to slit his throat with a knife, but he somehow couldn’t cut himself.

“…Do you have any idea who annoying this is?” the elf asked, seeing me watch him. “I’d do anything to die, but I can’t even get hurt. I’ve tried drowning myself, cutting myself, poisoning myself, throwing myself off a cliff, getting my friends to shoot arrows at me, have Lucius and Rashel trying as hard as they can to hurt me, dropping myself into a vat of acid, jumping into a bonfire and staying inside of it… I once tried to get eaten by a dragon. But I still can’t die.” He sounded annoyed indeed. I thought carefully.

“Well, have you tried filling your mouth with something so you can’t breathe?” I asked. The elf nodded.

“Several times, actually. But it always dissolves.” He explained. I slowly nodded, thinking. Poor guy. I really did feel kind of sorry for him; it wasn’t good to be immortal and invincible if all you wanted to do was die and get your long-deserved rest. With that in mind, I curled up under a blanket to watch the unfolding drama of Elliel ‘getting to know’ Rashel. That, at least, promised to be funny.

END CHAPTER ONE

So, what do you think of this story so far? The idea behind it is a group of supposed ‘Heroes’ who are anything BUT good. Rest assured that there will be explosions later on. Big ones. You know, like, nuclear explosions? XD REVIEW!!!!