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Written by Orion Nadja   
Friday, 11 July 2008 19:00
Of Spirits and Glory

The year was 1583 CC, and Cantha was in a state of turmoil. It was from the midst of turmoil, pain and suffering that had befallen Cantha that a hero would arise. This hero was not just any ordinary champion however. Nay, instead, he was destined to lead the people from the depths of their own misery and hopelessness, and into a golden era; an era, perhaps, more glorious than days long passed into legend. For this to come to pass, however, one man must embrace his destiny and accept the responsibility thrust upon him; for people need heroes, and leadership is a scarce commodity.

Chapter 1

Orion Nadja was sitting by his favorite tree in the northern mountains of Shing Jea Island. He came here often to think, but also to escape the rumors filtering through the general populace. Such rumors offered only hopeless anticipation for the end of all things. This was not Orion’s preferred mentality. He favored an optimistic outlook; something he could find only in the solace of nature, outside the realm of city life. And so, there Orion sat, and there he thought, and contemplated, and hoped.

For however much hope Orion clung to, he also practiced just as much inactivity, naively believing that the situation would resolve itself. He believed that perhaps someone would awaken the people to their destinies and obligations to their homeland, and that the people would take back what is theirs. He believed that people would find hope and gain something to pull them through the situation they were in. This belief, of course, was a fallacy. Orion knew it to be true, however much he tried to deny it to himself. The endless Kurzick-Luxon feud and the growing fears of Shiro Tagachi’s return threatened to overwhelm the people, and Orion knew, somewhere deep inside himself, that no one would come.

Deep in thought Orion sat, unaware of his surroundings. Suddenly, a sound to his left snapped him from his reverie, and he looked just in time to see a beast emerge from the wood a few yards from his location. While Orion was no warrior and had not mastered his craft, his training kicked in like mechanical autopilot.

A ritualist, like his role model and teacher Master Togo, Orion wielded a simplistic looking wooden staff, infused with powerful spirit magic. He was clad in traditional Shing Jea style raiment and leggings, dyed entirely in a brilliant cerulean color, and bright yellow head wrap, bangles and shoes. The outfit was somewhat devoid of the ornate bead and bone decorations typically worn by highly skilled ritualists; however, it did contain a simple decorative band around the head wrap and an ornamental necklace, colored in a subtle beige hue.

Orion turned to the beast as he stood from his seat below his favorite tree, and whirled his staff skillfully, finishing by striking the ground a foot in front of him. At the impact, his pale colored wooden staff emitted short bursts of brilliantly bright blue lightning, the signature of a skilled ritualist favoring channeling magic. The air around him began to crackle as he readied himself to use the few channeling spells he had come to learn under Master Togo’s tutelage.

As the beast emerged, and Orion got a good look, it appeared to be a crazed wolf, mutilated almost beyond recognition. Its face was scarred and slashed, oozing thick blood slowly from several fresh cuts. Its mangy fur was matted and dirty, as if it had just emerged from a pool of mud, and subsequently rolled in dry dirt, obviously to cool its fresh wounds. This wolf, clearly out of its mind, must be protecting territory now threatened by Orion’s presence, and looked as if it had been at it all day. What caused this beast’s mania, Orion could only guess, but he was aware of the damage this charging wild animal could cause, if he didn’t take it down before it reached him.

Orion dropped to his knees in a channeling ritual, arching his back and placing his head almost between his feet behind him. Twisting to his left, he raised himself on his left foot for balance, and continued rolling his upper body towards the aggressor, bringing his lifted staff about with him. As the staff’s rounded tip came into alignment with Orion’s body and the charging wolf, he shouted, “Spirit Rift!”

The air around Orion went still for a brief second, and a subtle pop sounded from the tip of his staff, with no apparent effect. Dancing onto his right foot, Orion bent to the right, folding about his waist, then placed his left foot behind him with his toes pointed to the ground, to counter his imbalance. About his left foot, he pivoted, artfully twisting counter-clockwise, planting his left foot firmly and bringing his staff around to again line up with the charging wolf, which had crossed half the distance from the wood to where he now stood. Again, he shouted an incantation, “Channeled Strike!”

This time, the effects of his spell took form. As the air around Orion seemed to be sucked into the tip of his staff, it began expanding around the charging wolf. From the center of the beast’s mass, a blue light glowed, visible even in the mid-afternoon’s sun. Lines forming the beginning of a massive explosion of blue channeled lightning began shooting from the blue dot emanating from its position inside of the animal. A loud explosive concussion shot lightning rapidly from the glowing blue sphere, ripping a small hole in the animal’s chest, and shifting its momentum slightly as it continued its race towards Orion. Blood began to drip from the freshly formed wound, but did not affect the beast’s lust for Orion’s head. As it regained its balance, it again aligned its dastardly fangs at Orion and charged on.

Orion stood up straight, and planted his staff on the ground again as showers of blue sparks again emanated from the butt of his weapon. Instead of beginning the conjuring of a new spell, Orion simply waited… and waited… and waited. The speed of the charging beast increased, and Orion could see its tongue, which was dripping blood from some previous kill, hanging out the side of its mouth. A small bead of sweat dripped from Orion’s brow as he continued to wait, motionless in the concentration of inaction that threatened to take his life. With nothing between it and Orion, the beast lunged straight at his neck.

Suddenly, a portal-like hole in space appeared above the beast’s head, out of which energy borne of channeling magic erupted into yet more blue lightning. Out of the vortex came a multitude of damage-dealing blue shards which speared into the beast, going through its scarred head and into its thick mangy body. The body of the deranged wolf contorted as it began to comprehend the pain lancing through it. As the magic did its premeditated work, the body of the wolf was destroyed from the inside-out.

The ritualist suddenly ducked his head and moved it slightly to the left, deftly dodging the intentionally fatal lunge that would surely have put the beast’s fangs directly into his neck. Its momentum carried the corpse straight passed him, sending it crashing lifelessly into the beautiful tree behind Orion. Straightening his posture and cursing at his carelessness, Orion turned to look at the gore the beast had left splattered on his favorite thinking spot.
Last Updated ( Friday, 11 July 2008 19:04 )