A Song for Winter: A Hero's Fall

    Archdruid Regalius was overjoyed to find out that his daughter Violet was pregnant but the large brown-furred black-maned lion wasn’t going to just give William permission to marry his daughter. There was no actual tradition dictating that William would need to wrestle for Regalius’s permission however the large lion demanded it. William, not being one to back down in the face of a challenge, accepted the Archdruid’s duel. Regalius had the upper hand in pure strength while William was just nimbler enough to avoid being pinned down easily. The morning passed into late afternoon as the two tried their best to pin the other down.

 

    “Alright, you two that’s enough,” Violet demanded as she slammed her bladed staff on the ground, “I told you before! I am not a prize to be won in a fight!” William and Regalius both immediately broke apart from each other.

 

    “Of course, you’re not a wrestling prize,” Regalius assured his purple-eyed daughter, “we were just having a bit of fun.” Violet rolled her eyes at her father annoyed at him as she walked past him to hand William a waterskin. After he drank from the waterskin, William started to walk away with his lioness fiancee when they were interrupted by a loud cawing noise. Moments later Viggo, William’s raven familiar, landed in front of him with a large scroll in his talons. As William unrolled the blood-stained scroll he read it out loud.

 

“William please time is sort

she heard our talk in the hedges

my family is in danger 

save them as I can’t

imprisoned and tortured day and night

I can’t die but they can

don’t worry about me its 

too late to save me but not them”

 

At the bottom of the scroll was a magical diagram for a portal. The designs and symbols were foreign and unfamiliar but William knew he could activate them. 

 

    “I know what you are thinking and you aren’t doing it,” Violet declared as William finished reading from the parchment. “Those coordinates from that diagram aren’t ones we have charted and this is an obvious trap.”

 

    “Even if it is a trap I made a promise,” William rebutted with a tinge of anger in his voice, “I am not going to let any more innocents suffer and this is the best lead as to where The Matriarch may be hiding her main forces.”

 

    “Fine,” Violet growled knowing damn well there was no way she could change William’s mind. “At least wait till we can get a small strike force together and the Harlock in position to back you up.”

 

    “There’s no time, I’ll take Viggo and be extra careful,” William avowed as he threw the scroll down and motioned for Viggo to perch on his shoulder. With a few whistled notes from the Wintersong, William activated the scroll that forced open a portal that swallowed him and his raven before snapping back shut. The in-between place was scorching hot with the worst smell of sulfur to ever assault William’s nose.

 

    William stepped out of the portal into a world that was ablaze with flames. Trees, plants, earth, and sky were all burning in nonstop conflagrations. Anything that wasn’t burning was blacked with soot and ash. Viggo whistled as he took flight to scout the surrounding area for information. Nearby stone ruins that may have been some sort of church at one point provide William with a starting place to begin his search. This burnt-out husk of a formerly great building provided no clues just more soot and ash. As William began to leave the building hideous laughter began to erupt from the fires as wolves, bears, foxes, and many others all with their fangs painted red. It appeared that the Bloodfang tribe wasn’t nearly as finished as William had thought they were.

 

    Immediately William drew his water sword and witch knife as he froze the water sword into an ice blade. The Bloodfang held the advantage in numbers but William was the master of being outnumbered at this point. He danced across the ruins cutting down his attackers as they came at him. William alternated from using the hard light shield attached to his talisman dagger to switching it off to cut a throat with ease. Ice blade alternated from solid ice to water on the whim to confuse foes or bypass defenses. Viggo circled above whistling notes of the Wintersong as he dropped arrows whose momentum was enhanced twentyfold with little bits of air magic. Between the two of them, it wasn’t long before only one Bloodfang clan member was left. With his foot planted firmly on the bear’s throat, William whistled a series of notes that increased in pitch. Air pressure around the ursine’s head until his head exploded and left nothing but a bloody smear where it had once been.

 

    “Clap clap clap,” The Necromancer laughed from the spot on top of the ruins he now sat, “that was so much fun to watch I wanna see it again with guest stars.” Black energy lanced from the coyote lich into the bodies of the dead Bloodfang members. 

 

    “You sniveling cunt-bitten coward,” William yelled as he popped the cap on the vial of funerary flower oil.

 

    “This is your fault Willy boy,” the lich mocked as his female badger bodyguard appeared on the edge of the stone ruins. “You really should know better than to trust someone who has been insane for the last seven or so centuries. Also, you’ll find your little oil trick won’t work on her as she’s made of that which was never alive.” Weapons suitable dosed in the special oil, William set about putting the new undead back in their graves. Being swarmed by the undead was bad enough without needing to dodge the badge giantess’s heavy steel maul. Viggo rained arrows until he was out on the badger abomination but it did nothing to stop her. Not so much as a drop of blood spilled from her many wounds. 

 

With William’s weapons coated in the oil, the zombies were quickly subdued but there was still the issue of the badger beast. Every blow of the steel maul William blocked with his hard light shield he could feel the magic straining against the impact. Out of arrows Viggo settled for throwing accelerated pebbles that didn’t seem to do much but he was trying. After he managed to dodge a blow from the steel maul William scored a deep slashing cut on the badger beast with the ice blade. Despite the depth of the cut it only revealed just more flesh. No blood, muscle, or organs were revealed as it appeared that the badger giantess was a wall of flesh. 

 

As a fresh showering of pebbles struck the badge an idea hit William. Quickly, William dodged a maul attack while stowing his weapons temporarily while he drew his two gold-handled daggers. With a flick of the wrists, the daggers flew to Viggo who caught them and followed the command that followed next to fly high. Drawing his fire axe, William activated the flaming axe head before resuming his offensive. With timed precision, he dodged maul attacks while striking where he could with the fire weapon. The flaming assault did nothing to hinder the badger beast but that wasn’t the plan anyways. Once Viggo hit the correct height he dropped the daggers which became hyper-accelerated even faster than the arrows or pebbles. William had been keeping a silent count in his head for this plan to work. Numbers began to run out as William leaped forward recklessly just in time to strike the badger abomination’s head with the flaming axe as the air-infused daggers struck true. A massive blinding strike of lightning struck the badger temporarily blinding William. Once his vision cleared he could see that all that was left of his was a headless quarter of a torso and a left leg.

 

William barely had a moment to collect himself when a large shadow fell across him. The Necromancer stopped his cackling and retreated from his spot atop the wall. Turning Willliam found that a large black-furred she-wolf whose right hand seemed to be made of metal had entered the ruins with The Scion following close behind. Piercing blue eyes that seemed to radiate evil fell up William as the tall metal-handed wolf approached him.

 

“Kneel before The Matriarch,” Scion demanded from beneath her golden mask.

 

“I refuse to kneel before a tyrant,” William spat back as he redrew his water sword and froze the blade in one swift motion. He leaped forward to stab the newly revealed Matriarch but the pure intensity of fire elemental power that emanated from the tyrant melted the blade in an instant. Not to be taken off guard William turned on instinct to stab his newly revealed advisory with his witch knife only for The Matriarch to catch his hand in her metal claw. Flames burned William’s hand as the bones were broken with barely a twitch from The Matriarch, William found himself lifted into the air as the she-wolf grabbed him with her left hand.

 

“So you are the one who thinks they can beat me,” The Matriarch mused as she used her metal claw to burn through William’s armor leaving deep burns on his body. “You aren’t special. You aren’t some chosen one or the reincarnation of an ancient king. You are nothing but a child who still believes in the bedtime stories his father told him.”

 

“Allfather, grant me…,” William tried to shout through the pain only to be cut off by a metal claw that seized his throat. Metal nails dug into William’s throat just enough to draw blood and make it difficult to breathe but not enough to outright choke him out.

 

“Oh you poor deluded fool,” The Matriarch laughed evilly, “you think that old one-eyed fool can save you now? Don’t you know that all the ones he grants his powers to die before their time? It’s the curse of his power.”  With a kick, The Matriarch threw William to the with a mighty thud that shatter the ruin’s stone floor. “Bring me his heart,” The Matriarch instructed The Scion as she turned to leave, “the rest of him is useless to me.” 

 

William lay crumpled on the ground; his hand was broken, severely burned, and with several broken ribs as his newly revealed nemesis casually walked away. The Scion, William’s half-sister Brianna in a golden mask, circled above him as she demanded he gets up and fights her. Each breath William took was sheer agony as his wounds were too great time. This may be how it ends until his thoughts fell upon his daughter Jaina, his fiancee Violet, his unborn child, and everyone that was depending on him not to give up.

 

“You know Brianna it's not too late,” William choked out in a hoarse voice as he tore his belt off, “our father treated you terribly and I did nothing to stop it. I thought I gave you an act of mercy when I branded and exiled you but I was wrong. We can start again as sister and brother just like it used to be.” 

 

    “Just grasping at any straws to try to save yourself now aren’t you,” Brianna asked as she watched William use his belt to strap his witch knife to his left wrist. William slowly staggered to his feet as white-hot agony racked his body. As he retrieved his water sword William reactivated his hard light shield which hadn’t had enough to fully regenerate so it was cracked and flickered.

 

    “I was being earnest but you’re right, what was even the point of trying,” William managed to gasp out breathing heavily, “Allfather grant me insight!” As the othala rune on William’s eyepatch lit up with holy energy he refroze his water sword into an ice blade. Brianna took several coins from a pouch and threw them into the air before drawing her dual sabers. As the coins reached their apex they became large bats that set out to chase Viggo down. The large raven cawed and wheeled through the air avoiding his assailants as he tried to pick them off one at a time.

 

    William was immediately forced on the defensive as The Scion’s vicious assault came fast and hard. Even with the Allfather’s power that flooded his body, William had trouble blocking all the saber blows. Brianna was dead set on her mission to carve out William’s heart for her dark mistress. Desperation forced William to try to call upon the Winter Song but his throat injuries were making it difficult to find the correct note. Plus every cut the hard light shield blocked caused it to flicker more and more as pain lanced through William’s shattered hand. Out of better ideas, he tapped the bell hanging from his talisman dagger against the wall. The rune on the bell created a large air burst out that William willed back to him stronger. Bricks and stones came flying back to pelt The Scion to temporarily throw her off balance. William used the small moment to chop at his opponent’s torso only for the blade to be deflected by some sort of magic barrier before being flung from his hand. Disarmed William had only his dagger left and the shield was all but gone.

 

    “I always hoped I would be the one to watch you die,” Brianna smirked beneath her mask as she ran her sabers through Willliam’s stomach and into the wall behind him. Effectively nailed to the wall William was defenseless as The Scion slipped on a set of brass knuckles and began to rain blows down on him. With the brass knuckles, the force of Brianna’s punches was amplified beyond normal limits. Consciousness began to fade fast when two objects struck The Scion from the side before they exploded and knocked the would-be assassin sideways. Brianna didn’t have enough time to recover when a tree flew in and took her through a wall with it.

 

    “I can’t believe I am letting my daughter marry such a hardheaded idiot,” Archdruid Regalius sighed as he stepped in from the flames accompanied by Captain Izebel and a small army of druids and ninja space pirates. Izebel was dressed in darkened red leather armor with a matching leather face mask that hid her mouth and two swords strapped to her side. The red-skinned tiefling pulled the sabers that pinned William up and let him slump into Regalius’s arms. Immediately the Archdruid began casting every healing spell he knew. A loud yell interrupted the rescue as The Scion climbed back into the ruins through the newly created hole in the wall. Her mask had shattered to reveal her right eye which was filled with hatred and wrath.

 

    “Get him clear, the Harlock will be in position for extraction soon,” Izebel commanded Regalius as she drew her katana that shined blue and purple against the light from the flames. “I’ll buy us some time.” Regalius nodded as he carried William away while the army covered his retreat. The Scion motioned with her hands and in an instant, her sabers appeared back in her hands. 

 

    “Tell me,” The Scion demanded as she prepared to fight her new foe, “what makes you think you can fight me when even your hero boy couldn’t do it?”

 

    “I am such a better duelist than him,” Izebel proclaimed as she tapped a pendant strapped to her belt. Izebel launched herself at The Scion only to be immediately skewered. She twitched for a moment before disappearing in a poof of smoke and reappearing seemingly in six different places around The Scion. Izebel and her clones attacked her opponent in a confusing array of sword strikes and kicks. Brianna managed to block all the attacks both real and fake as she slowly killed the clones till only the real Izebel remained. Infuriated by the clone trick The Scion attacked in a frenzy only to find each attack easily blocked or dodged by the tiefling ninja. Rainbows of smoke began pouring from Izebel’s armor as she slipped out of sight and into the smoke cloud.

 

    “Enough of this trickery,” The Scion barked as fire magic began to accumulate around the surviving eye of her golden mask, “fight me!” With a furious roar blasts of flame began to erupt from the mask in all directions she looked until the smoke burned away. Target spotted once again Brianna fired several gouts of fire at Izebel only for the pirate captain to draw her wakizashi and parried the flames completely. With a smooth motion, Izebel slid both of her swords back into their sheathes before drawing five kunai with glowing runes etched on them.

 

    “I can’t beat you,” Izebel admitted as she motioned to her spaceship The Harlock hovering overhead with its main rail cannon spooling up, “but that's probably gonna hurt quite a bit.” Without another word, Izebel threw the five kunai down at her feet before disappearing in a flash. The Scion didn’t have enough time as the projectile from the rail cannon struck her, obliterated the ruins, and left a crater miles wide with a huge cloud of dust obscuring vision.

 

    Izebel teleported on the deck of her ship to a scene of pure chaos. All but one of the druids with Archdruid Regalius leading them were trying to pure their magic to keep William alive. The one druid that wasn’t helping with that was doing his best to tend the wounds of an uncooperative Viggo. With no time to waste, Izebel began to yell orders to her crew as sirens and alarms went off.

 

    “This planet is dead,” Regalius shouted to Izebel while he weaved spells to try to save William, “we can’t pull enough energy from it to keep him.”

 

    “Morrisa, you heard him! Get us out of here now,” Izebel ordered her dark elf first mate.

 

    “We can’t,” Morrisa answered from her station, “all the sensors and systems are going crazy. Something is holding the ship in place!” Izebel ran to the deck viewports to look for what was holding her ship in place. She didn’t have to look long for there standing out in the open was The Matriarch. With her iron hand raised high and a wicked smile painted on her face, the tyrant drew in massive amounts of raw magic to keep the ship from leaving. Izebel ordered all guns to be turned on her but they all started to malfunction. The Harlock began to lose altitude as the crew struggled to break free to get away but to no avail.

 

    “Allfather,” William rasped out in the faintest of whispers as he tried to raise his hand, “please one more time for them.” His hand fell to the deck with a thud. For a moment nothing happened as The Harlock continued to lose altitude. Then a white pulse of energy left William and coated the spaceship. 

 

    “What is Weapon System Gugnir,” Morrisa asked as a new ship weapon appear on her screen.

 

    “No clue but we are firing it,” Izebel exclaimed as she leaped past her wife and slammed the fire button. A glowing golden spear fired from the ship’s main rail cannon before it struck The Matriarch squarely. Unfortunately, the glowing projectile didn’t kill the iron-fisted tyrant but it did break her hold over the ship. With the ship free it used its portal generators to leave the planet behind and set course for home.