WARNING:

This story contains graphic content and scenes of extreme violence. This includes, but is not limited to, torture and murder.

This is a story that has been rewritten several times, and I have decided to post this version for review. Tell me what you think, and maybe I can continue it. Most is told in first person, but between it are bits and pieces of more vivid third person.

Altonia:

Silent Knight

Foreword

Here is a work of fiction, strange and wonderful, ghastly and terrible; here is a tale that makes reality pale in comparison. For some the Imagination is so close to Reality it is hard to tell the difference. Some do not even want to tell the difference. My generation is the generation of escapism; no one wants to really live in reality, and will do anything just to escape it. As the world we know breaks apart around us, we seek to explore worlds as far from ours as possible.

Truth is always stranger than fiction…so what are we really trying to escape? Is our world so hard to understand that we try and understand another instead? Not all is as it seems and what you know is often fabricated from things you don’t.

A simple word of advice, to all those that seek escape:

Even things that are not real can hurt you. Imagination is not an escape from Reality…just another part of it.

Prologue

Fear.

Fear is a thing almost everyone feels at one time or another, a cold feeling that steals over you when you least expect it. It can paralyze you, keeping you from taking action, or force you to move in a new direction. It can fuel a revolution, lead a people to peace. It can ignite and power a hatred, and lead a world to chaos.

The world of Altonia is full of fear. Since the dawn of its existence the land has been drenched in it; fear of life, fear of survival, fear of death, and most of all the fear of the unknown. Things changed quickly, peoples learned to survive, but when they found something they knew nothing about they were forced to make a decision. When you are afraid you have a choice, fight or flight. When you are afraid of the unknown you also have two choices; you accept…or you deny.

Humans are full of fear. They are masters of adaptation; no climate is too much for them to handle, no mountain too high or sea too wide. They came from over the western ocean into Altonia, a land full of things that they had never seen before, never imagined until now.

And they were afraid. They knew nothing about this new world, they could not understand it. They were faced with a choice, to accept this world for what it was, or deny that this was the way it was meant to be.

Humans, the rash beings that they are, chose the latter option.

And so began a war, a war that would decide the fate of all races in the land of Altonia. Humans began to kill others with a fervor that startled the native inhabitants. They were the masters of fire, literally forging their destinies in this new land. They had erased civilizations from the face of the earth, and destroyed millennia of nature’s work. It was more than a hundred years after the humans had arrived that they met one race that was very much like them, and yet so different.

The Feleans were a primitive race that lived in the northern reaches of Altonia, and in secluded places around the world. They were like wild animals in appearance, but intelligent and not without culture. They were of all kinds; canine, feline, reptilian, and many others. They were grouped in tribes, each made mostly of a certain species. When humans met this race, they treated it like the others, and tried to exterminate them.

But they made a grave mistake. Of all the races, of all beings, only Feleans can control the primal forces of the world. The humans began to fear this power more than any other, and like all their fears they gave it a name: magic. Magic was the reason that Feleans were able to fight back, laying waste to human towns in kind. But magic had its drawbacks, and this allowed the humans to steadily herd the Feleans past a huge mountain chain, the only way through which was a narrow gorge called Mevar’s Pass.

And so the humans and Feleans waited, striking each other whenever they could, gaining no ground. Many, many years passed, and both races became desperate. They both wanted to find a way to destroy the other, and end the suffering.

And so the first hero arose during the Felean wars. An old Felean of the fox clan ‘Serac’ found a scroll, describing a weapon of great power. This weapon was a sword called the Dream-Blade, a shape-shifting weapon that came into being when the world did. Whoever wielded it would share in its power, becoming immortal unless they take their own life, gaining infinite knowledge and wisdom, and having the ability to command magic on a level beyond any other mortal.

With a weapon like this the war would be over, for whoever had the blade would be victorious. Unfortunately the scroll had been mostly destroyed, and was now only a scrap of water-proof parchment having no other detail on the weapon’s location other than the words ‘…the south side of…’.

This is the story of Larx Serac, the one that volunteered to trace the location of the Felean race’s last hope.

Chapter 1

Storms

CRACK!

Lightning shattered the night angrily, a snarling beast hovering like a predator over the world. It had been growling like this for some time, but only now had it decided to proclaim its position aloud. The sky outside the small and very dirty window was lit with startling clarity for a splintering second…and then all went dark as pitch once more.

I couldn’t hope to sleep through all the noise. Not only was the storm being as loud as nature could possibly be, but there were shouts coming from the room below. The floor wasn’t that well built, and slits of light came up through the old boards; humans, drinking and feasting in the tavern, trying to drown the storm out of their minds.

I will say it now, so I don’t have to say it again: I dislike humans. Not despise, no, I have no real reason personally to hate them, but they are an enemy of my kind and so I have to have some kind of dislike for them. They are always hovering on the edge of stories…fiends that raid a clan and vanish without a trace. To see them in person is frightening at first, but then you realize just how weak humans are. No fur, so they have to cover themselves in cloth to keep warm even in the mild summer. No claws or proper teeth to hunt with. Not even the simple ability to make a ball of magical light, a task that requires no energy for even the youngest of Felean-kind.

And yet they somehow drive us to the brink of extinction, forcing me, of all people, to be here.

Members of my clan have very similar markings, and others are hard pressed to distinguish between two of us. We appear to be copies of the same individual, but fox Feleans can tell the difference easily. Except for a scant few, we are covered in rust-orange fur with darker markings around our ankles, wrists, ears and spines. Almost all have white on their torso and stomach, as well as the end of the tail. I am certainly no different from the norm, thankfully; those that are different tend to be unable to pass on their blood to a new generation.

I don’t really like having to explain what I look like to others, seeing as how any Felean should know what a red-fox looks like. Still, I have to consider that not all that read this will be Felean, or even human. There are very strange creatures in the world, and they need to know what I am like. Not that it matters in this current situation…I am the only Felean for many miles. And most certainly the only friendly creature in the area.

I am Larx Serac. I am proud of my name; Serac. It means ‘cunning’ in the Core language, the language all Felean speech is based off of; my clan was named because of our guile. All I have to be proud of is that simple word, ‘Serac’. Simple, yes…but it is all of who I am. I am Serac.

I rolled off of the admittedly comfortable mattress, setting my paws gently on the floor. I didn’t put my weight on it, for fear of making a sound. Why had my clan chosen me? I was one of the least of the clan. In fact, three others were chosen to go in my place, but none of them showed their snouts for a week before they were supposed to leave. And so I, a simple hunter-gatherer, was chosen instead. I do not question the wisdom of the Magi of the clan…but sometimes I wonder why not.

I put my weight on the floor, and was mildly surprised when it didn’t make a sound. Maybe it was better made than I had thought. I was not tall for a Serac, so I was not concerned with the low ceiling when I stood. It was only then that the floor creaked eerily. I listened for a moment, but heard nothing other than the group of humans laughing very loudly at some crude joke. A female made a comment, and the group was quiet for a bit to hear it, and then they once more laughed so loudly the walls vibrated.

I snorted and flicked my tail, peering at the light that gleamed between the floorboards. I bent down, turning my head to the side and peering down through one of the wider gaps. I couldn’t seem to see anything but darkness, and then realized that a support beam was in the way, and I moved myself down the slit slightly.

The room below me was massive…compared to a Felean building. It was enough to hold at least fifty humans with space to stretch, and right now it held at least twenty. That’s twenty too many for my tastes. They were gathered in a group around a very thin male, who was thumping his foot on the wooden floor while yelling for another drink. The room was lit by the yellow glow of lanterns with blackened glass covering, ones that spouted smoke when disturbed even slightly.

The male was now telling a story or joke, with a clear glass full of an orange liquid in one hand, and what seemed to be a stringed musical instrument in the other. When he set the glass down and held the instrument differently, and wrapped his hand about its long neck, I knew he was about to play it. He struck the strings, and I lowered my ears flat to try and block out the terrible grating noise it produced. It also made a high shriek when the strings were touched…but the humans seemed to enjoy it. How could they not hear that dreadful noise?!

And to top it all, the human began to sing. Very badly, I might add…it rhymed somewhat, but otherwise it was terrible. Correction…even the rhyming was terrible. Of course the humans enjoyed it…but they were half drunk out of their skulls. I couldn’t tell you what he was singing…I didn’t know enough human language at the time to translate it. I recognized only one word in that entire song, picked out from the grating and shrieking of the instrument, and the loud roars of chorus from the humans around the one playing it.

Felean.

My throat felt tight. Did they know I was here? I berated myself silently. No…they wouldn’t be singing about me, they would be grabbing torches and running up the stairs! I shrugged. It doesn’t matter what they are doing…so long as I can get out of here without being seen.

I turned from the crack and stood up, walking carefully towards the door. It was still locked, so I moved to the window. I was concerned that the boards would creak; I walk on a smaller part of my foot than humans, and this puts more pressure on parts of the floor. They would call it walking on ‘tip-toe’. I never understood why they walked that way…but they were so different in other ways it wasn’t that much of a surprise. Flat-footed bastards.

I glanced at the floor when it vibrated with a cheer, and then loud chanting. There was a shatter of glass and another cheer. I smiled to myself and turned to the window to open it. I waited a few moments until the wind shifted to blow rain another way, then yanked backwards on the handle.

It didn’t move. I pulled again with no success, and then looked into the cracks between window and sill. There were metal barbs there…the window was locked. Why was it locked? I hadn’t done it…I tried remembering what I had down to get inside in the first place. I had simply climbed up the badly placed bricks that made up the building’s northern wall, pushed open the window…and then shut it? It hadn’t been fully closed in the first place!

I tried pulling on the window again, and then pushing outwards, but it wouldn’t move. As far as I could see I would need a key of some sort to open the window again. Most likely the very same key that was used to unlock the door. I tried using my claws to pry the metal catches away from the window, but they were not going to move.

I had unwittingly locked myself into enemy territory…how could I have been so stupid? To actually go near a human town in the first place was dangerous, but to enter a human building and spend the night there out of the weather? It was insane. For a Serac…I didn’t seem to be very cunning right then.

I moved slowly towards the door, making sure to spread my weight so the floor wouldn’t creak. I tried in vain to turn the lever that opened the door, though I knew it would be locked. It still was. I glanced back at the window and then knelt before the handle, peering into the keyhole. It seemed to go all the way through to the other side…at least a small speck of light. I could barely see wood panels that made up a wall in a hallway…at least what I thought was a hallway. I shoved the tip of a claw into the hole, twisting it around a bit to see if it would somehow open. My claw was a little too thick to go all the way into the hole, so I pulled it out and looked again.

There was another cheer, and then someone yelled angrily downstairs. I had very little idea of how the locks worked, so there was no real way I could pick it with my claw even if it would fit. I did not want to try and break the door down; that would make too much noise, and even the humans would be intelligent enough to investigate a loud crash or splintering of wood. I could try and break the window and jump out, but there was a chance I could cut myself and bleed to death, or if not to death then have the cut become infected. Not too mention the noise breaking glass would make.

There was only one option left to me, and I was very reluctant to try it. Who knew what devices the humans might have to detect my escape attempts? They were notorious for being paranoid…I doubt they would leave that option open. I had to escape somehow though…if I was here too long a human might come up and find me, or if they didn’t I might actually starve. Well…I would die of thirst first, but I was thinking of other possibilities.

I looked through the keyhole once more, to see if there was anything there that I had missed the first time. Something outside was moving…I couldn’t see the wooden panels anymore. I saw something shadowy and dark, and then something blocked the hole. I blinked, and heard a sharp click. Someone was coming inside!

I scrabbled out of the way, dropped to my stomach on the floor and rolled under the bed, covering my fur with thick dust in the process. There was a loud creak as the door opened, and flickering yellow light spilled through. I watched from my place on my stomach as a human wearing leather boots entered the room. The human wore long pants tucked into the boots, and both matched in the same black color. The human turned and shut the door, and I heard another click. It had most likely been locked again.

The human gave a loud sigh and walked over to the window, where it stood very still, apparently looking for something outside. I barely breathed, and my heart was beating so hard I could hear it pounding like a war drum in my ears. The human wasn’t showing any sign of moving. I could smell the leather boots that the human wore, and mud from the street outside. It was breathing very shallowly, as if listening for something.

Lightning flickered outside, and the floor shook with the crash of thunder. The human jerked as if startled, and then turned and walked towards me. No…not towards me, towards the bed. It sat down and the wood that made up the frame creaked, and I heard the strange sound of metal coiling…springs in the mattress. No wonder it was comfortable. The human sighed, and then I saw black-gloved hands reach down to start to pull off the boots…and then stop.

What is it waiting for? I thought, as the human was suddenly still. I held my breath, hoping it didn’t somehow know I was here. It might have smelled me…but humans weren’t supposed to have that kind of sense of smell. In fact, they were supposed to be almost blind and deaf compared to Felean senses…but I didn’t want to take any chances with something I didn’t know for a fact.

The human reached further past the boot, touching the floor. It turned the hand around and examined the dust on the finger, and I lifted myself up a few centimeters to see what was happening. On the floor, there was a faint imprint left in the dust, a darker spot against the wood stained from many feet.

A pawprint.

The human stood up and stepped away from the bed, and I heard a short rasp of metal on metal. I caught my breath, lowering myself slowly back to the floorboards. The human was turning slowly around in a circle in the center of the room, apparently searching for me. Why didn’t I think about the little things, like paw tracks? I must have thought I would have been far from here by the time anyone came into the room…

I had to escape. As simple as that.

The human had turned all the way around and was now facing away from me and towards the window. I took a breath…and rolled out from under the bed. In the time it took to blink I was on my feet and had thrown an arm around the human’s neck and a paw over its mouth. It dropped the short knife it had been holding and it imbedded itself in the floor, quivering. The human’s brown hair was in my eyes and I shook it away. It was only then I noticed the gender of my captive.

It was a female. Why would the female be carrying a weapon? It didn’t make sense, but humans never did. I tightened my arm around the human’s neck rather reluctantly; female or not, it would have to be killed unless I could escape. I felt lips moving under my fingers, and I released her mouth and pulled her left arm behind her back. She was choking out frantic words now, barely audible…but it would do no good; I couldn’t understand her.

“Be silent, human.” I muttered in her ear. It was unlikely she understood, but she shut her mouth hurriedly anyway. I smelled something almost rancid and grimaced; the human had urinated. “I know you can’t understand me, but I’m going to tell you anyway: I will kill you if you make a sound or even-“ I stopped, seeing water running down the human’s cheeks. That couldn’t be good for me…some kind of defense adaptation I didn’t know about? I turned around and threw the human onto the bed, where it lay still, staring up at me. I bent down and yanked the dagger from the floor…and realized it was suddenly quiet downstairs.

I glanced at the human and held out my hand, and she simply stared at it. “Give me the key and I’ll leave you unharmed.” She couldn’t understand. I pointed to the door and then to my hand. “Give…me…the key!” It fumbled a bit and drew a short brass object from a shirt pocket, and threw it at me. I caught it out of the air and stepped backwards to the window. “Count yourself lucky…I might be the only Felean unwilling to kill anything for no reason.”

Carefully watching the human, I fitted the key into the widow’s lock and turned….it clicked! I spun around and opened the window wide as rain poured in, soaking me down to the skin almost instantly. Lightning crackled and I threw the knife at the human, and it bounced off the wall and clattered on the floor. I looked once more back to the human before I broke the key in the lock and tossed the end of it at her, shoving my head out the window and squeezing through.

When I left that room the storm took over…a sound and force that drove rational thought from your mind. The rain was like a constant driving force, blowing you one way or the other at random. It was cold as ice as well, but I had no time to waste shivering. I dropped from the window to the branch of the oak tree under it, then from there to the ground. I hit the mud and my legs sank in to the first leg joint, and I pulled myself from it and towards the trees surrounding the human building.

There was a loud smash, a splintering of wood and harsh yelling in human language. A dim face peered out of the window at the forest beyond, but was soon forced to turn away because of the driving rain.

It didn’t matter…I was long gone.

The Silent Knight…that was what the humans called it.

It was a demon of some sort, clad completely in armor made of interlocking plates of steel, covering its body completely so that no skin could be seen. The helm was ornate and covered the head completely, except for the slits that allowed the being to see. Two horns curved forward from the helm, red from the blood of those that had felt their sting. The metal armor itself was black as pitch, but not from any pigment. Once it had been white steel, but now it was stained with the blood of more than twenty-thousand humans, Feleans, Shiverlings, and creatures hitherto never heard of before.

In the being’s hand was a sword of metal that was also stained black, and yet held its keen edge. The blade was simple, with no decorations, a long, straight sword meant only for battle and not for a shelf. The demon’s eyes stared out from the eye slits, actually glowing the crimson red of blood. And this demon was silent…it never spoke, never made a sound, never cried out in pain or laughed at its victims. It was almost like a machine in the way that it slaughtered so many without feeling, without injury.

And now it stared its dark gaze northwards, dead eyes scanning the blackened landscape from some sign of life for it to snuff out. There was nothing left except the forest beyond, where fires burned at the edges, smoke swirling into the sky like the long fingers of Death reaching up and pleading for more souls to take with it.

The Silent Knight sheathed its still bloody blade, moving down the hillside at a slow and measured pace, taking its time heading north towards yet more lives to take. The wind howling through the empty wastes and the fire crackling was the only sound, even the gore crows lying dead upon the blackened earth, rotting along with the ones they had seen fit to eat.

Nothing moved. Nothing breathed. All was silent in the cold embrace of Death.