A Story Of Sword And Shield, Book one., Chance c Barrett [ebook reader for manga .txt] 📗

A Story of Sword and shield.

Chapter 1: Infiltration.
I looked around as I ran weaving through the trees in the forest.
“It’s too calm” I thought to myself yet I continued as if a force was pushing me to carry on…
Suddenly, a razor sharp arrow flew by my head grazing me…. just enough to leave a small cut on the side of my head. My heart started to beat faster and faster, I quickly ran behind a small scraggly tree, it was broken down and not the best cover, but it would have to work.
“How can I get out of here? Judging by that arrow it does not take them very long to find my position and attack.” I looked around for a moment and noticed that there was a guard not more than a few feet away quietly I jumped onto a tree branch, grabbing the archer that was posted in it, with only the sound of rustling leaves he was no longer on this earth. I looked around for a second then took the armor and weapon from the body.
“Now, I just have to hope this fools them” I thought as I put the armor on, as I saw a few other archers’ approach I stood straight and said.
“Um, hello..” i said anxious.
Another archer stared at me for a moment.
“You do know you were supposed to be at the territory line, right?” the archer answered.
“Sorry, I am uh... new.” I said and tried to find an escape route.
“Are you okay?” the archer asked.
“Yes, fine...” I said as I reached for a case attached to my waist.
The archer stared at me “hey, what are you doing?” he asked.
“Nothing... except for this” I said as I quickly drew a dagger and swiftly killed him.
I smiled “a job well done” I thought.
“Almost dark… I should hurry back...”
After about a mile of walking, I arrived at a small half decayed and hastily made shelter in between a few old trees; they were an amazing sight to show how anything through perseverance can withstand almost anything…
I walked in and looked around then walked up to a figure wearing a black and red cloak that showed his bright red eyes and nothing more.
I smiled “Rex, I see you made it back in one piece as well”
Rex lowered the hood part of the cloak and smiled. “Yes, well unlike you I am not near as reckless…”
He interrupted what I was about to say “well at least, I am smart about it when I am”
I smiled “well I should go, it is getting late and I have not rested in days…”
Rex smiled also and said “alright my son, rest up... for tomorrow is going to be important…”
“I know, we will infiltrate them... by becoming them...” I said as I walked away, toward a small cot-like bed on the far side of the shelter.
I laid down, I was tired... but the adrenaline from the fight a moment ago was still surging through my veins, and it demanded I not sleep, but I fought the urge and closed my eyes… slowly drifting into sleep.
The next morning I awoke and stood quickly to attention, was there anyone else here? Did something happen while I was asleep? I looked around to check, then removed bandages that were around my right eye and examined the room further, as my right eye glowed a dull red… then I quickly put the bandages back on, hoping I did not let it see for too long…
It seemed as if nothing was wrong at the moment, so I took a deep breath and left the shelter.
The sunlight was bright, and blinded my good eye momentarily… luckily the other one was wrapped in its bandages.
I walked down a short path that went toward a temple in distance, ah the famous golden wolf temple, known for, greed, order, and horrible leadership…”I just hope this plan works, the faster I get out of there the better…” I thought to myself as I approached the entrance to the huge temple.
An entrance guard looked at me through what seemed to be about 100 lbs of armor, yet without a closed helmet, odd that they would wear that much armor and not protect the head well…
The guards word snapped me back into reality “hey you! I need identification!”
“I don’t have any, I just wish to enlist…” I replied.
The guard laughed “YOU are going to enlist for the great golden wolf army? What makes you think that you have the skills necessary for such a position?”
“given the soldiers I’ve seen of yours walking here, it does not seem that it is that hard to get a position here, furthermore I killed all of the guard I passed, I took each of their medals they were carrying for proof” I replied.
The guard looked at me “well where are they then?” as if he did not believe that I could even kill one much less ten or more soldiers.
I reached into a pocket in my cloak and pulled out the medals, and sure enough each of them had golden wolf insignias and names. “Right here.” I said as I showed the guard the medals.
The guard looked at me, surprised. “Well that was just luck…but very well...proceed, and if you wish to enlist, talk to general grey”
“Yes…. Sir” I said, adding the sir with a condescending tone.
I walked inside the temple, it was much larger on the inside than I thought, it had a gold plating covering the walls, and the ceiling went up about 40 feet. with all the soldiers talking, playing instruments, cheering, laughing, and even some of them were dancing, it reminded me of a circus or maybe a carnival…I shook myself from the distraction I was in and continued to walk down the halls of the temple until reaching what I figured was the barracks, and so I walked inside… there were sets of armor hanging from the wall and weapons leaned by them, there were what seemed to be beds against the walls. i asked if anyone had seen this “general grey” sure enough one of the soldiers said that he was in the main hall with a group of other soldiers, so I made the long walk back through the halls and finally reached the main one, and then I wondered… how would I find someone in a crowd of over 300?. Well I looked and looked for about an hour or so and finally was about to give up when a tall soldier, bearing the golden wolf general insignias and armor stood up and walked away from a table, I quickly walked up to him and said “are you general grey?”
The tall soldier looked at me and said “yes, I am general grey, what do you need?”
“I would like to enlist in your army, and the guards told me to find you.” I said.
“Well I could sign you up... and I am assuming they gave you a test?” the general said.
“Yes... of sorts sir…” I replied.
“I see... well how did you pass?” The general questioned.
I took out the medals I had just shown the guards and handed them to the general.
He stared at them for a moment and then said “I will go enlist you now…”
I nodded and walked away, wondering if I had maybe done something that will come back in the future… but I shrugged the feeling off and explored the halls of the temple, after a few hours of walking, I grew tired, and fell asleep in a long hallway in the south end of the temple.
“Hey you wake up.” An unknown voice said to me.
I blinked a few times and stood up. “Who are you?...” I asked.
“Who am I? I should be asking who are YOU, you don’t have any armor, any insignia of any kind...” a female soldier replied.
“that is because I just enlisted… and my name is—“ I paused for a moment, I have been given so many names by the different groups I had been with that I did not know what to call myself any more… I decided I would just use the first one I was given… “My name is Blade…” I said.
“Blade, huh? my name is Sophia, but here they call me shining star.” The female soldier smiled. “Nice to meet you”.
“The same to you, star… well I should probably get moving, I do not want to be late for any assignments they may give me” I said as I walked away
“Good luck!” The one I now knew as “star” said.
Chapter 2: Rituals.
“Today is when you truly become one of us” a soldier said holding a small knife.
“And how is that?” I asked.
“We put our insignia on you of course” the soldier replied, bringing the knife to my arm.
I stared at the blade, it looked slightly dull, it had been used many times lately…
The soldier slowly started to cut into my arm, carving a strange insignia into it; I winced as I held back the pain.
The soldier stopped and pulled the blade away from my arm, the wound bleeding “that scar will represent the sacrifices you will have to make being one of us” he said.
I quietly stood up and walked away holding the wound.
I arrived in the main hall a few moments later.
A tall slender male warrior walked into the middle of the main hall. “Attention everyone, today is an important day… today we honor the spirits, with blood.”
The warriors in the hall cheered as I stood in the back of the crowd, wondering what this could mean.
I walked down the corridor and had the insane notion that I was in danger somehow, but I quickly shrugged it off as I arrived at the front entrance the guards gave me a stare “You again? I guess you have permission to leave then, is that true?” the guard asked.
“Yes, permission of general grey, I am to get my first assignment after I gather some things from the secondary temple outpost in the tall trees area.” I replied.
“Very well, on your way then” the guard said, nudging me out the entrance with a long silver staff with a gold plated blade on the end of it.
I walked for what seemed like a day, but in reality was only a mere hour when I saw the outpost.
“There it is” I said to myself, walking up to it
“Hello, may I see identification?” a soldier at the front of the outpost said.
I showed the insignia on my arm, it had finally stopped bleeding and had now made a scab on my arm.
“I see you are new?” the soldier asked.
I nodded at him “yes, I just enlisted…” I replied.
“Well then, you must be here to gather some materials here?” the soldier asked.
“Yes, general grey sent me here.” I replied.
“Go inside and look for a small door on the left, what you are looking for is in there.” The soldier said, knowing exactly what the general had sent me for.
I walked into the outpost and to the very door the soldier has spoken of, as I opened it, I swore I could hear a voice telling me that I should not be here… that I should not have opened